The Story of Us
by mayz
Summary: After a devastating phone call Cam rethinks her life and love of Taylor.  Terrible summary, please read any way.  And if you wouldn't mind reviewing too that would be awesome!
1. Chapter 1

She should have expected it, it's not like something like this was out of the realm of possibility, but how do you prepare yourself for such a thing?

Something had awoken her from her slumber but what? She rolled over and saw the clock, 3:33am, this time the sound registered. As she reached her phone her stomach sank and an eerie sense of dread washed over her.

"Matty, where is he? What happened?" she said skipping the pleasantries.

"Cam, I'm sending someone to come get you, stay calm, Sammy will be there soo…"

"Fuck that! Where is he? I'm not waiting around for someone to come get me! I'm already out the door! Now where the fuck am I going?"

Matty reluctantly told her which hospital they were headed to as she flagged down a cab and began the longest cab ride of her life.

Cameron sat in the back seat of the cab frozen, as she remembered how she first met Taylor Reese.

_4 years ago_

"Cameron, now you call us when you get there. Be careful, you have your gps right? Do you have enough money?" She thought it was so cute that no matter how old she was her mother still fussed over her and handed her twenty dollars every time she left for a road trip.

"Mom… I will call you as soon as I get to the apartment I rented; I'm going to be fine. I love you." Cam hugged her mom then climbed into her over packed car to start on her journey.

After completing her MBA at Boston University Cam had landed her dream job managing a restaurant and nightclub in New York City. The only issue being that Cam had lived her whole life in Boston, the furthest away from home she had ever been was Maine. Now she was heading to a city that she'd never stepped foot in to take a job in a restaurant she had never seen and live in an apartment that she had only seen on the Internet. Her parents were excited for her but Cam could tell that they were disappointed that she hadn't taken one of the several job offers around the Boston area. It wasn't an easy decision, leaving everything and everyone you have ever known, but Cam decided that now was the time to do it. She was young and single with her whole life ahead of her.

She had only interviewed over the phone with two of the owners, they were exactly the kind of people that she pictured working for. They told her that although they were very involved with the club they were willing to give her almost complete control of the day to day operations as well as final sign off on any big ideas before they were implemented. Matty and Chris were their names and they both sounded young and admitted that neither of them had a lot of experience with operating a restaurant or nightclub although Chris said he did consider himself somewhat of an expert on the nightclub circuit.

Cam was used to Boston traffic and figured New York couldn't be much worse… after 8 hours in the car for what should have been a 5-hour drive she finally pulled up at the apartment building. At this moment she was wishing that she had accepted Matty's offer to put her up somewhere. She sat in her car and dialed the number for the landlord.

While she waited for the landlord to come down with her keys Cam took in her surroundings. The neighborhood didn't look all that different from where her first apartment was in Dorchester. There were several apartment buildings on the street along with a liquor store, a check cashing/bail bonds storefront, as well as a pawnshop and various bars. The air was thick with the smell of car exhaust and cigarette smoke seemed to be billowing from the bars along the street. All the building had lost their color, what was once probably vibrant brick and colorful paint was now just a faded shade of gray on every building as far as her eyes could see.

When the landlord finally immerged from the building he waddled over to where Cam was parked. He was a plump little man and his features were soft, not what Cam had expected to see on a man who lived and owned a building on this street.

"You must be Cameron I presume? I'm Mr. Gonzales but most people just call me Charlie, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." He said as he took Cam's hand in to his, not giving her a chance to get a word in edge wise. "Well then, is this all that you have?" He motioned towards the car.

"It is, I figured it would be easier to buy things once I got here rather then try to move them all the way from Boston."

"Okay then. Here are your keys, let me help you with your things my dear."

After just a few trips Cam and Charlie had managed to get all her things in to the small apartment.

"Thank you so much for all your help Charlie, I really do appreciate it." Cam thanked him as he was heading toward the door.

"If you need anything dear please don't hesitate to ask, I'm right down the hall in 1B." And with that Charlie waddled his way back down the hall towards his apartment.

The apartment wasn't the nicest place she had ever lived but it would do for now. It was a small studio with a large wall of windows over looking the street. She quickly unpacked a small bag of clothes and toiletries, she was supposed to meet with Matty and Chris tonight and she wanted to look at least presentable.

Dressed in dark jeans and a tank top with a short cardigan over it Cam climbed out of her cab in front of Club 469. When she had asked Matty about the name he had told her that it was the address and it sounded good so they decided to keep it. Chris had quickly interjected some sarcastic comment about boys and 69 but was quickly redirected by Matty. Assessing the out side of the club, it had no real definition, only one small sign next to the door with the nameplate. There seemed to be a pretty decent crowd for 9:00 on a Monday night, there was even a small line forming.

Cam quickly made her way through the crowd to the doorman.

"Sorry kid, line starts back there." The large man boomed in her direction not even looking up from his clipboard.

"Uh, my name is Cameron McNeil I have and appointment with Matty Demaret." Cam shouted trying to get the man's attention.

At the mention of Matty's name the bouncer stopped what he was doing and not only looked up at her but stared at her as if he were deciding whether or not to take her seriously. After what seemed like an eternity he picked up the phone.

"Yeah, I've got some chick out here saying she's supposed to see Mr. Demaret, says her name's… what was it again Carson Mc something? Cameron McNeil, yeah that's it. So she's good?" He hung up the phone and motioned for Cam to follow him.

"Hey sorry about that. So you're the new boss huh? Hope you last longer then the last one." He stopped outside an unmarked door, knocked then opened it for Cam. "Good luck"

The large office was beautifully decorated, it looked like something off the set of the _godfather. _There were floor to ceiling windows adorned with floor to ceiling crushed velvet drapes, tied back with gold tasseled rope. The large mahogany desk that sat in the center of the windows had meticulously carved scenes on the front of the wine making process, and the top looked to be marble. The young man sitting behind the desk equally looked like he had stepped out of the _godfather. _

"Cameron, I'm Matty Demaret, it is so nice to finally meet you." Matty said getting up from the desk and coming around to shake her hand. "Please have a seat, can I get you anything to drink?"

"No thank you, I'm all set and please, it's Cam. Only my mother calls me Cameron and that's usually only when I'm in trouble." Cam smiled.

"Cam it is then," Matty smiled back. He was handsome and he was definitely Italian. Meticulously kept hair and clothes, that probably cost more then her first car, punctuated his dark features. "Let me bring you up to speed on where we are now and where my partners and I would like to see ourselves in the future."

Matty and Cam talked for more then an hour about everything from inventory control to graphic design and wine selection.

"At some point I would like to sit down with all of you to discuss where they see the restaurant and club going. Will they be here later tonight? Cam asked as she and Matty started walking towards the kitchen of the restaurant.

"You'll definitely meet Chris tonight, he'll be by later, the other two are more silent partners." Matty did his best to side step the question.

"Ok, so we will only see them when we meet with the investors? Do they have names?"

"Yes, of course. There's Chris' cousin Johnny and my friend Taylor. Taylor doesn't care much about what goes on here as long as we are turning a profit and Marbles doesn't much care what happens as long as the doors stay open so he can tell people he owns a club." Matty punctuated the last part with a laugh.

"Marbles?" Cam questioned

"Oh, sorry. Johnny aka Marbles. Only person that calls him Johnny is his mom and that's usually only when he's in trouble." Matty grinned.

After seeing every inch of the club and restaurant Cam finally bid Matty a good night and hailed a cab home, it was after 3am and Cam was exhausted. Once home she unpacked and blew up her air mattress and slid in under her comforter.

"Tonight was the first night of the rest of my life," she thought to herself as she drifted to sleep, "and I can't wait to get started on it."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Cam quickly developed a routine both at home and at work. Both the club and the restaurant were doing extremely well and Cam had earned quite the reputation with the staff and regulars. She was a perfectionist and demanded high quality work from everyone but she was fair and compassionate with those that preformed well.

After a few months she had formed a bond with both Matty and Chris and looked forward to spending time with them, and the numerous women that floated in and out of their lives. Cam wasn't blind or deaf though, although the information was never given to her and she never asked she heard talk of who Matty's father was and what he did. She saw people that were in her club having private meetings with Matty on the new on a semi regular basis but she figured it was better then to stick her nose where it didn't belong.

As for the other two 'investors' as Matty called them, Marbles was around _all _the time. He was around so much that Cam wasn't sure he didn't live there. Her night wasn't complete until she'd walked in on Marbles and some girl in the supply closet.

Then there was Taylor.

On top of being the largest man that Cam had ever met Taylor was just… different. He was always courteous and polite to Cam and the other people at the restaurant but he never got personal with any of them. He would come in, most nights, towards the end of the night and sit in a booth in an out of the way corner and drink, a lot. Yet he never acted drunk, he never got rowdy, and he never hit on the servers, or any other women. For lack of a better term, he held court. He sat there with Matty and company or occasionally other men would come in a sit with him for a short time then leave. When Taylor walked into the club the mood changed. It was obvious to Cam that he commanded respect where ever he went, she never dared to ask how that came to be for fear of what the answer would be.

Cam never paid him much mind, he was an investor, a very silent partner and that was the beginning and end of the story as far as she was concerned. Until one night things changed.

It was a typical Wednesday night. Cam was sitting in her usual spot near the kitchen eating her usual Wednesday meal, spaghetti, and going over the previous week's receipts when Taylor walked in. It was unusual that he would be in so early but Cam figured he was there to see Matty.

"Hey Taylor, Matty's not here you just missed him." Cam smiled politely.

"Yeah, I'm not here to see Matty, just figured I get something to eat." Taylor responded.

"Oh, well in that case, please have a seat and join me if you'd like." To Cam's complete surprise Taylor nodded his head and sat down.

"What would you like?" She was suddenly nervous, she was just being polite she never expected that he would sit down. What on earth were she and Taylor supposed to talk about?

"Whatever you're having looks good," Taylor said while looking at phone.

Hopefully this would be how things would go, Taylor on his phone and Cam working on receipts. Any hope of uneasy, silent dinner vanished when Taylor turned his phone off and put it away.

"Coming right up," Cam excused herself into the kitchen to order Taylor's meal.

As Cam approached the table on her way back from the kitchen she noticed something different about him; he was leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed scrubbing at his forehead. He looked smaller today, somehow. He quickly sat up when he heard her slip back into the booth.

"You feeling ok Taylor? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine, just one of those days."

And with that they fell into a comfortable conversation. Who would have guessed they had so much in common? Both were huge baseball fans, all be it one a Sox fan and the other a Yankee fan, both enjoyed the same kinds of music and a love for Italian pastries. They talked well into the night until finally one of the servers politely reminded Cam of the time.

"Oh shit, damn it! I've gotta run Taylor, I'm supposed to be at the club! One of the bartenders called in sick and I am supposed to be filling in for him! I'll see ya later." She said over her shoulder as she hurried her way towards the door.

And so began their Wednesday night tradition. Every Wednesday they would sit and eat spaghetti together and debate baseball and anything else that might come up. Soon though Wednesdays stretched into Tuesdays and Thursdays which in turn fell into Mondays too. But dinner was all that it was. Every night from 7:00 until the club opened at 9:00 they sat together and just talked. There was never the invitation to dinner somewhere else or to a movie, and when they saw each other at the club it was all pleasantries and sideways glances and for both of them that was ok. They had an arrangement and it worked for both of them.

Present day

Cam arrived at the hospital and was immediately met by Matty waiting outside, he had blood on every inch of him and even though it had been more then a half an hour since his call to Cam he was still shaking.

"Oh god, Matty are you okay? Were you hurt too?" Cam was having a hard time processing what her eyes were seeing.

"It's not my blood sweetheart." Was all that Matty was able to get out.

The world got fuzzy around the edges and Cam felt like her knees were about to give out on her. "Where is he? I need to see him! How bad is it? It must be pretty bad if you brought him here right? Matty where is he?"

"I'm not going to lie to you, it's not good. The bullet is lodged in his abdomen, he lost a lot of blood. He's in surgery right now. Come on I'll take you up there." Matty wrapped his arm under hers to hold her up as they made the long walk to the waiting room.

Once they reached the threshold of the waiting room Cam could see the small crowd that had assembled. Chris and Marbles along with quite a few other people that she had only seen in passing coming in or out of he restaurant or club.

Matty led her to a couch and helped her sit; both Chris and Marbles rushed to her side.

"Hey sweetheart," Chris cooed "is there anything that you need? Anything that I can get for you?"

"How did this happen? Who shot him? Where was he? Was he awake when he came in?" She couldn't stop the questions from coming she needed the answers, as if knowing everything about this terrible night would somehow make her feel better.

"Cam, listen to me. You know that we can't tell you the who what and where, it's for your own good. Taylor was awake when we brought him in and his only concern was you, he was worried that you would be alone when you found out… damn if he isn't going to kick my ass when he finds out I told you over the phone." Matty was next to her stroking her hair.

It was Marble's turn to chime in, "Cam you know Taylor's going to beat this. He's Taylor Fucking Reese; nothing can keep him down for long. He'll be up and annoying the shit out of you before you know it."

"Thanks Johnny, I know you're right… I just wish I could see him."

They sat in that room for hours, Matty, Cam and Chris huddled together on the pleather couch afraid to move. A parade of well wishers filtered by as if at the receiving line at a wake; each offering their condolences along with words of encouragement and lots of lukewarm stale hospital coffee. Cam was numb, she didn't even bother to look at the people talking to her, she left that up to Matty who seemed happy for the distraction, she clung to Chris and tried not to look at the clock.

At nearly 10:00 the doctor came into the room and asked to have it cleared except for family, of course that meant only Cam, Matty, Chris, and Marbles.

"Taylor is in recovery. The bullet went directly into his spleen and then managed to hit almost every other major organ in his abdomen. He lost a tremendous amount of blood but we managed to get it under control. As of right now he is stable but that's not to say he'll stay that way. The next 24 to 48 hours are critical. He's going to be in recovery for the next hour or so then we'll move him to the ICU where we will monitor him very closely. I will have a nurse come get you when you can come see him." The doctor was very matter of fact but there was something in the tone of his voice that made Cam cringe.

"He's going to be okay though right? I mean he has to be. He's the strongest man I know, he's been through things like this before and he always comes home." Cam was doing her best to get the doctor to agree with her.

As if suddenly noticing that not everyone in the room was a criminal he'd seen in the newspaper, he approached Cam and knelt down in front of her.

"We are going to do everything in our power to get him home to you, I promise. Try to keep a positive thought for him. If and when he pulls through this he is going to need someone to take care of him so keep telling yourself that you have to be that person for him." The doctor squeezed her knee then got up and left the room.

"It's going to be awhile before we can see him, why don't you try and get some sleep Cam? I promise that I'll wake you as soon as the nurse comes in." Chris suggested as he tugged her head towards the waiting pillow on his lap.

The look that he received back from Cam was that of utter annoyance.

"If not for you then do if for Matty, please? When we go in there and he sees you looking the way you do right now he's liable to jump right out of that bed and kill Matty." Chris attempted.

"Okay, fine, but only because Matty's face if much too pretty to meet with the other end of Taylor's fist." Cam agreed. She had every intention of just lying there to placate Chris and Matty but soon she felt herself drifting off.

Cam woke with a start. She looked at the clock, 1:00, she looked to Chris, he was asleep with his head leaning back against the wall. Matty and Marbles were both also asleep and she could see Sammy standing guard outside the door. She instantly began to panic. The doctor has said an hour or two; it was now 3 hours later!

Right as she started getting up to see what she could find out from the nurses station Sammy opened the door for the nurse. Cam jumped up, waking Chris, and ran to the woman standing at the door.

"What's going on? It's been 3 hours! The doctor said 2! Is Taylor okay? What took so long? Can we see him now?"

"Calm down sweetheart, let the poor woman answer you." Matty was at her side. Cam took a deep breath and held it waiting for her answers.

"I'm sorry for the delay, Taylor had a bit of a set back and we needed to make sure he was stable before we moved him. He is stable now and if you'd like to follow me I can take you to see him. I'm sorry but we only allow 2 visitors at a time."

Set back? Not stable? Cam felt like she was underwater, that everything was happening above her on land, she could only hear things from a distance, making things harder to process.

Cam and Matty followed the woman in to the ICU. As they were about to reach the curtain at the end of the hallway the woman stopped. She turned and put her hand on Cam's shoulder.

"I want you to have an idea of what you are going to see dear. He is hooked up to a ventilator to help him breath and he has a chest tube that you will see draining in to a container near the head of his bed. He also has an IV and lots of wires connected to machines so that we can monitor his vitals. If you have any questions about what anything is or what it is doing, please don't hesitate to ask. This can be frightening if you don't know what all the machines are doing." She squeezed Cam's shoulder and turned to open the curtain.

Scary wasn't the word for what she say. Terrifying didn't even begin to cover it. Taylor was lying in bed hooked up to more wires and machines then Cam had ever thought possible. He looked pale, his beautiful toffee colored skin looked gray and his strong muscular body seemed small and weak.

"Can I touch him?"

"Of course dear, that will help him to know that you're here, and talk to him, tell him how much you love him, it will be good for him to hear. Come right around here, watch the cords." The nurse led Cam to the head of Taylor's bed.

She laid her head down next to his and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek. His skin was cold and clammy, the opposite of the Taylor she had kissed good bye yesterday morning.

"I love you Taylor Reese, you hear me? I love you. You had better not leave me here alone with your boys, I'll never forgive you. I need you so you just rest and get better because I am going to be right here waiting for you when you wake up."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Beep… beep… beep… beep…beep

Only one person was allowed to stay after visiting hours so, reluctantly, Matty had gone home with the promise that he would be back first thing in the morning. All night she sat there and watched him, holding her breath between every beep of the monitor, hoping this wouldn't be the time that his heart stopped and didn't start again.

The steady sound of Taylor's heart monitor was all she could focus on, twice during the night it had stopped and she was pushed out as a team of doctors and nurses rushed in to get his heart started again.

After the second time the crash cart left the room Cam felt her eyes well up with tears and for the first time she let them fall.

"Damn you Taylor… you promised me forever… you said you would never leave…I need you! I'm not me without you!"

With her head on his chest she sobbed, she prayed, and she begged God, the blessed mother, and anyone else she could think of to help him and bring him back to her.

"Sweetheart, I know that what you have been through tonight is unimaginably scary but he is in the best place that he can be right now and you need to believe in your heart that he is going to make it through this." One of the nurses who had been with Taylor all night, Eloise, placed a comforting hand on Cam's back. "Now why don't you take that pillow and blanket that I brought in here for you and see if you can't get some rest."

"Thank you but I want to make sure that I'm awake if he needs me."

"Darling he isn't going to wake up until the doctor says its time for him too. We have him sedated and that ventilator is breathing for him so that his body can concentrate on recovering. It's going to be a while before the doctor weans him off of either of them. You don't need to get yourself so worn out that you can't be in here with him cause you've gotten yourself your own room downstairs now do you?"

Cam considered her logic. "You are probably right, can I ask you to wake me when the doctor makes his rounds?"

"Of course sweetheart, I promise." Eloise said as she handed Cam the pillow and blanket that she had neatly folded on the windowsill.

As Cam reclined as much as she could in the chair in the corner of Taylor's room she thought back to the night that would be the beginning of she and Taylor's real friendship.

_3 years ago_

Cam was finishing up the liquor replenishment order when she heard a noise coming from the office area, it was almost 4:30 in the morning on Sunday and as far as she knew she was the only person left in the building.

"Jesus Christ Taylor you scared the shit out of me! What the hell are you doing here?" Cam jumped dropping the glass she had in her hand.

"I think the better question is what the hell are you doing here this late and by yourself?" Taylor responded.

"Its Saturday night and I'm off on Sundays so I usually stay to make sure the liquor order will be ready to go in first thing Monday morning. And beside that I'm a big girl Taylor, I'm perfectly capable of being here all by my little old self, I'm not afraid of the boogey man anymore."

"So jumping 10 feet in the air means you're not afraid? Shit, I've been doing it wrong all these years? Fuck! Look Cam, I know that you Red Sox fans have a certain way of looking at the world and you always seem to think things should go your way but trust me when I tell you that it's not a good idea for you to be here alone." Taylor said leaning down to pick up the large pieces of the glass that were on the floor.

"Well, I will take that under advisement, thank you for your impute… what are you doing?" Taylor was heading back towards the office.

"I've been up now for going on 3 days and I'm beat, I am going to go sleep in the office until you're finished here and then I'm going to drive you home." He said as he disappeared down the hallway.

"Who says I'm going to wake you up when I leave?" Cam said to herself, under her breath.

"Oh and I will be using that suitcase you call a purse for a pillow so don't even think of trying to sneak out of here with out me." He yelled before loudly slamming the office door.

Determined to punish him for being so stubborn, or something – she wasn't sure what, Cam decided to do the most precise inventory this liquor cabinet had ever had.

"I'm not done yet, if you're going to be impatient you can feel free to leave." Cam didn't even bother to turn around, delighted that she had found a crack in his armor.

"I don't think I'll be leaving any time soon, that's for sure…" an unfamiliar voice replied.

With two bottles of vodka in her hands, Cam slowly turned around only to come face to face with a man she had never seen before.

"I don't know who you are or what you want but you better leave if you know what's good for you." Cam mustered as much confidence as she could.

"Well I think I know what is good for me… I was just looking for some quick cash, maybe a little booze but lookey here… I've found myself a little something extra. I'd say it's my lucky night." The words sprayed out of his mouth as if he were a serpent about to catch his prey.

As the intruder began to make his way around the bar Cam threw both the bottles of vodka against the mirrored walls behind the bar in an effort to make as much noise as possible, hopefully alerting Taylor.

"Now why the hell would you go and do that?" He hissed at her "You've ruined a lot of perfectly good booze you whore!" With that he lunged at her catching her by the throat and slammed her against the bar. "I guess we won't be able to set the mood now, we'll just have to get down to business."

As the grip around her neck tightened, making it harder to breath Cam heard what she could only think was a lion roar from somewhere behind her. The greasy hand that was around her neck was violently yanked away and through her blurred vision she saw the guy fly through the air. As she coughed and spit trying to find her breath she could hear what sounded like wood cracking. Finally she was able to stand up and as her vision cleared she realized the sound she heard was not wood but bone cracking. Taylor had the intruder on the ground and was hitting him repeatedly.

"Taylor! Oh my god! Holy shit! Taylor stop! You're going to kill him!" She yelled as she tried to pull him off of the other man. "Taylor, please look at me… stop Taylor, he's not worth it." She pleaded.

"He fucking had his hands on you! Fuck! He should be so lucky for me to kill him!" Taylor roared as he tossed the now unconscious man down like a rag doll. Taylor wiped his bloody knuckles down the side of his jeans and reached for his phone.

"Sammy, get the fuck down to the club right now! There's some garbage that needs to be taken out…" Taylor continued his conversation as he walked out of Cam's earshot.

She just stood there rubbing her neck and starring at the bloody mess of a person that was lying in the middle of her dance floor. "Did that just happen?" she pondered to herself.

"Cam? Cam you okay? Can you hear me?" Taylor was standing in front of her and she hadn't even seen him come up.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Should I like call the police or something? He isn't… ya know… dead is he? She stammered.

"Na, he's not dead. You don't need to call the police. Why don't you come on back here with me," Taylor led her to the office and helped ease her down on the couch. "As soon as Sammy gets down here I'm gonna take you home okay? But for now just wait in here for me."

Taylor grabbed the blanket that he had been using before the commotion and rapped it around her shoulders, he then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, took the cap off and handed it to her. Once he was sure that she was in fact okay he went out to wait on the clean up crew.

After what seemed like 2 minutes Taylor was back and gathering up Cam's things to leave.

"I'm fine Taylor really, I'll just catch a cab. Don't worry about it." Cam slung her purse over her arm and headed for the door.

"You are one of the most stubborn people I have ever met! You know that? I am taking you home and that is the end of this discussion." Taylor demanded.

"Pot calling the kettle much?" Cam snapped back.

When they walked through the bar the intruder was gone and Sammy was there with two other men cleaning up. Cam wanted to thank them but for some reason felt as if that were not the right thing to say at this moment.

They made their way through the back parking lot and to Taylor's van.

"Where do you live?" Taylor asked while clearing a spot for her in the front seat.

"You know where big Nick's pawing palace is?"

"Jesus Christ Cam do you have a fucking death wish? I know you think you're a tough chick from the _mean streets of Boston _but really?" Taylor seemed genuinely aggravated with her address.

Cam was fresh out of sarcasm, the rest of the ride was made in silence.

When the pulled up to the curve in front of her building she turned thank Taylor for everything he had done for her but she noticed he was getting out of the van.

"Taylor, I'm fine, I can open my own door. I just want to go upstairs, take a long hot shower, climb in bed and forget this night ever happened."

"Yup." Taylor followed her up the stairs, through the door and into her apartment. She didn't have the energy to fight with him right now; maybe if she just played along with it he would take the hint and just leave. Not so much… when she turned around to argue with him she wasn't even able to get her first word out.

"I'll leave once you are settled, end of story. So go do what ever it is you need to do and I'll just make myself comfortable." Taylor shrugged off his coat and sat down on her tiny love seat.

Cam gathered some sweat pants and an old T-shirt and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She stood under the showerhead and just let the hot water wash over her body. Her neck and her back were sore from where he had grabbed her and she assumed she was going to have a nasty bruise in the shape of his hand.

Once the hot water started to run cold she dried off and dressed then headed out to the sanctuary of her bed. When she opened the door to the bathroom there was Taylor sound asleep resting against the back of her tiny loveseat as peaceful as could be. Suddenly she remembered that before any of the craziness happened tonight he had told her that he had been up for almost 3 days, looking at him laying there Cam couldn't help but smile. Of all the people in the world to be the one to save her, Taylor Reese was not the person she would have expected. She went to her only closet and retrieved an extra pillow and a blanket; she placed the pillow on the end of the couch.

"Taylor? Come on lay down, you are going to be mighty sore if you stay like that all night." Cam quietly coaxed him to lie down on the pillow. To her surprise he did as she asked without even opening his eyes. She covered him with her favorite throw blanket and stepped back. She had never noticed before how beautiful he was, maybe it was that he was totally relaxed laying there curled up on her tiny sofa covered in her blue snowman blanket but suddenly he wasn't just the Taylor that was fun to talk sports with.

"I must be more exhausted then I thought, I'm imagining things…" Cam told herself as she climbed into her bed. But for the first time since she had come to the city she slept without hearing the clamor of the questionable world that lay just beyond her window, she felt safe.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Cam slowly leaned to her side to look at the clock and as she did so the events of the previous night came rushing back in the form of throbbing coming from her back and neck. The clock read 3:33.

"So much for getting anything accomplished today." She scolded herself.

As she slowly moved off her bed an unfamiliar noise stopped her in her tracks.

"What the hell was that?" She asked out loud.

Then she remembered, Taylor. She turned towards the couch and there he was curled up on her loveseat, covered in her blue snowman blanket, snoring. Giggling to herself she quietly made her way into the bathroom. The sight that greeted her in the mirror was even worse then she'd expected. There was a large bruise in the rough shape of a hand stretching from the front of her neck to both of her ears and lifting her shirt reveled a welt about the size of California on her back. She opened the medicine cabinet, reached for the ibuprofen and took 4.

She slowly pulled the bathroom door open and tip toed past the couch to the kitchen area to fix herself some tea and toast. As she sat at her kitchen counter sipping her tea she couldn't help but to ponder the man sleeping on her sofa. She had chalked it up to exhaustion as she crawled into bed that morning but even now in the light of day Taylor looked different. It was a gray and overcast day outside but the dingy light coming in her windows highlighted his soft toffee colored skin and reflected off the medallion he wore around his neck sending small specs of light over much of his face. She had never bothered to look beyond the tattoos and the tough guy exterior before to see how handsome he really was. He wasn't traditionally handsome like Matty and Chris but watching the rhythmic rise and fall of his blood stained T-shirt that contoured to every curve of his chest Cam found herself wondering what was underneath the shirt.

She was pulled from her daydreams by the phone. Embarrassed by what was going through her mind, Cam jumped and ran for the phone. Her body, not impressed with the maneuver, rebelled causing her to stumble and trip until she fell into the desk where her phone sat. Annoyed she quickly glanced to the couch fully expecting to see that she had woken Taylor but to her surprise he had not so much as moved.

"Hello?" She demanded.

"Cam? Hey it's Matty, I didn't wake you did I?"

"No, sorry Matty, I just had some issues getting to the phone."

"Has Taylor left yet?" Matty asked as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"What? I mean… no, wait how did you know he was here?" She stammered

"You didn't hear Taylor on the phone with me this morning? I figured your entire neighborhood did." Matty chuckled.

"Must've missed that. Have you been to the club yet? Did you call the insurance company? Has the adjuster been there yet? We might miss a day of business over this; he needs to know that. As soon as I finish getting ready I'll be right down there." As if finally awake Cam's mind was going a mile a minute about what would need to be done in order to be ready to open as soon as possible.

"Whoa, slow down, one thing at a time. Yes, I'm at the club right now. No, I did not call the insurance company. I've had some friends down here all day and they have everything as good as new in here. And absolutely under no circumstances do I want to see you down here today period!" This was very uncharacteristic of Matty. He was always the cool, calm, and collected one and here he was ordering Cam to stay away?

"Matty I don't know what Taylor told you last night but I'm fine, really, and if you have all the damages taken care of down there then it is like nothing ever happened." Cam did her best to reassure him.

"Nothing happened? Cam you can't be serious? This isn't Taylor getting me worked up, although he was pretty fired up, this is me being disappointed in myself. I would be devastated if something would have happened to you. I should have never allowed you to be there so late without at least a guard there."

"Hold on a sec, allowed? Nobody _**allowed**_me to do anything. As I explained to Taylor last night; I am a big girl and I can take care of myself! _**I **_decided to stay last night, _**I **_decided to not ask anyone to stay with me and _**I **_have done it a million times before with no issues. I am eternally grateful that Taylor was there last night but that in no way means that I am not capable of making decisions for or taking care of myself, nobody _**allows **_me to do anything! The only person that is to blame for what happened last night is the asshole that broke into our club! Got it?"

"Cam, I didn't mean it the way that it came out, I'm sorry. I just meant that… well, I meant that I should have, we should have… what would you say if we were talking about someone else that works here?" Matty attempted to explain his position.

As much as she wanted to she couldn't argue with the man, he was right. She would have sounded exactly the same if it had happened to another employee.

"Alright… I guess you have a point, sorry I snapped at you."

"Hold on, was that you just admitting that I was right and you were wrong? Hey Mikey," Matty called to someone in the background, "could you circle this day on the calendar for me?"

"I said you were right, geez you don't have to be an ass about it." Cam teased

"Not to change the subject but could you put Taylor on for me?" Matty requested.

"He's not up yet." Cam replied with a smile as she turned her attention back to the sofa.

"Wait, what? Are you sure he's alive? How long's he been out? Taylor never sleeps more then a couple hours here and there. Did he hit his head last night?" Matty sounded genuinely concerned.

"Uh, I don't know, he went to sleep around six I guess… he said he'd been up for like 3 days… how often does he do that? He'll probably be out for awhile." Cam held back a chuckle at Matty's overly dramatic reaction.

"… yeah… that's probably it… just go throw something at him or whatever, uh, he has somewhere he needs to be tonight so if you could just have him call me asap please thanks."

"Sure Matty, no problem. I'll see ya tomorrow." Cam gently hung up the phone.

Wake Taylor up… that wasn't really in her plan, not that she actually had a plan, but she was certain that if she did have one it would not involve waking Taylor. After studying him for the past hour or so she somehow felt as though she would be invading his privacy by going over there to wake him. She figured that he would get up when he was ready. Not to mention she was hoping that she would have had more time to get the swelling on her neck to go down.

Once she worked up the nerve to go to the couch she stood there frozen, she tried several times to reach out and touch his shoulder but each time her arm refused to move. All the stress that she saw in his face at dinner each night, the rough and hardened expression that were so common on his face were gone, replaced by relaxation and peace, she couldn't help but take it in. How had she missed it for all these months, this big beautiful man that so many people feared and admired was not as mean and hardened as he would like people to think. There more to Taylor Reese then meets the eye.

"Taylor? Taylor, it's Cam, come on sweetheart you've gotta wake up." Cam finally worked up the courage, touching his shoulder gently.

The baritone rumble that she received in response was unlike anything she had ever heard. "What time is it?"

"It's a little after 4, Matty called he wants you to call him." Cam wasn't sure he was awake, he hadn't even opened his eyes yet.

"Mmmm…" Was the only response.

"Taylor, come on honey, Matty's gonna think I didn't tell you." Cam insisted gently nudging his shoulder again.

Suddenly he bolted upright and turned to look at Cam. "What time did you say it was?"

"After 4?"

"Holy shit," he rested his head back against the wall, closed his eyes and started scrubbing his forehead. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and started to say something when he caught sight of Cam's neck. Inhaling deeply he slowly sat straight. "Fuck." Was all he said.

"I'm fine, its just a bruise, it will be gone by tomorrow. Did you sleep okay? Can I get you something? Coffee?" Cam did her best to change the subject.

Taylor's eyes were glued to her neck. Feeling self conscious, Cam adjusted the hoodie she was wearing to better hide the bruise.

Without taking his eyes off her Taylor responded, "Yeah, sorry about that. Didn't mean to fall asleep here and I definitely didn't mean to stay so long, hope I didn't keep you from anything. You should've just kicked my ass to the curb."

"Don't worry about it, you were obviously exhausted, it was no problem. I just threw a blanket on you and went to bed. I haven't been up long myself and the only thing your snoring interrupted was my cup of tea." She smiled shyly as she walked back towards the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

"Nice blanket, never pictured you as a snowman kind of girl… figured everything in the place would have Red Sox on it. And by the way I don't snore." He teased as he headed towards the bathroom.

"You don't snore like I don't like Tequila!" She yelled as he closed the door behind him.

Present Day

"Holy shit he looks… like shit!" Marbles whispered, as loudly as one could whisper, as he and Chris entered Taylor's hospital room.

"Hey, asshole, watch it, remember what we talked about." Chris scolded his cousin then gesturing towards Cam who was asleep in the chair.

"I know, I know, but she didn't hear me and he really does look like shit."

"He can hear you ya know Marbles." Cam replied without even opening her eyes, she heard a loud smack and opened her eyes to see Marbles rubbing the spot on his head where Chris had just smacked.

"Hey sweetheart how you holdin up? Do you need anything? Matty says Taylor had a rough night. What are the doctors saying?" Chris asked as he pulled her into an embrace.

"Yeah, uh I mean no, I'm fine, I don't need anything. You could say he had a rough night last night…" she felt her throat tightening up, "…his heart stopped, twice… they were able to get it going again but it was so scary, I thought I lost him." Cam blinked back tears as she explained how the teams had come in both times with the crash carts and how she had to wait outside while she listened to them shock him and shoot him with drugs and shock him again. "He's doing better now though, its been almost 10 hours and his vitals are still strong, doctor said that if he makes it through the night without anymore episodes he'll try taking the ventilator out tomorrow."

"See, that's a good sign right? Taylor's going to be fine, its just going to take him a bit longer to get back up this time, but he always has and he always will." Marbles chimed in from his spot near the door.

"Hang on… how did you two get in here? They are pretty strict about the whole only 2 visitors at a time thing?" Cam questioned.

"It's all in who ya know Cam, you know that." Chris flashed his infamous smile.

"Christopher Scarpa! Are you telling me that you flirted your way into an ICU room?" She couldn't help but laugh.

"Think of it more as using my unique brand of persuasion." Chris grinned back.

It was nice to have the two of them there. Cam moved to Taylor's side and held his hand while the three of them talked and joked as if everything were just as it always was. It wasn't uncommon for the three of them to be carrying on while Taylor was in the room going about his business as if they weren't even there so Cam chose to pretend this was one of those times. She kept waiting for him to snap at Marbles to watch his mouth and then politely insist they leave so he could concentrate.

After a few hours the cute little nurse that Chris had 'persuaded' to let them in came to remind them that visiting hours were over and they had to go.

Cam hugged them both good bye and assured them, as well as herself, that the next time she saw them it would be in a non ICU room and Taylor would be awake and eager to tell them to shut up.

Soon after they left Eloise, Taylor's nurse from the night before came back in carrying a tray.

"I bet you haven't left this room once today have you?" She asked setting the tray of food on the windowsill, Cam looked down to the floor "that's what I figured, so I ordered some room service for you from the cafeteria."

"How's our boy doing tonight?" She asked already knowing the answer.

"Well, he's done good all day. He hasn't had any… episodes. The doctor was in earlier and said that if he can make it through the night okay he'll try taking the ventilator out tomorrow." Cam beamed, proud of the progress Taylor had made from the night before.

"That is definitely a step in the right direction," Eloise smiled in response "Why don't you eat some of that gourmet food that I brought for you and then you and I can focus on getting him to that appointment tomorrow shall we?"

Thankful for the encouragement and in a better state of mind from Chris and Marbles' visit Cam leaned over and kissed Taylor on the cheek.

"I love you baby, I intend to see those big beautiful chocolate eyes of yours tomorrow. So you better not let me down." And with that Cam settled in for another long night.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Cam's fingers were shaking as she called Matty the next morning. "Matty, are you on your way? The nurse said that the doctor was on his way in to talk about removing the ventilator, I want you to be here when he wakes up. He'll have questions that I can't answer."

"I actually just parked the car, I'll be up in like 5 minutes. I take it this means that our boy made it through the night ok?" Matty quicken his pace with the good news, he could hear the excitement in Cam's voice.

"Yeah, he did great," she beamed as she looked over to Taylor, "I just know that as soon as they take that tube out and cut back on the sedative he'll bounce back quicker then anyone expects"

"Lets hope you're right sweetheart, for everyone's sake, we need him back… I'll be up in a minute." Matty got into the elevator and waited for the doors to close.

"Alright baby, I know you hate to be the center of attention, and crowds aren't you're thing but just once, for me… please." Cam pleaded with him.

Within minutes Matty appeared at the door almost out of breath, "I didn't miss the doctor did I?"

"No, still waiting but he should be here any minute now."

The room was completely silent but for the sounds of Taylor's machines; both of them too excited and nervous to speak. Finally, the doctor knocked on the door.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Grant, and you must be Ms.."

"Please, call me Cam, and this is Matty. He is Taylor's oldest friend, it's okay if he stays with us isn't it?" She asked suddenly afraid that she was going to have to do this alone.

"Yes, of course, that's fine. Please have a seat. There are a few things that we need to go over before we remove the ventilator. First, does Mr. Reese have a living will?"

"I'm sorry, a what? Why would he need a living will? Dr. Thompson, his surgeon, told me that they put the tube in to help him breath not because he needed it but because they wanted him to conserve his energy to help him recover. Was he wrong?" Cam felt her face getting hot as bile began to rise up from the pit of her stomach.

"No, he was not wrong, not at all. That is exactly why the ventilator was put in. The reason I am asking is that there is always a chance that when we remove the ventilator the patient, for a variety of reasons, will no longer be able to breath on their own. If this happens we like to have a living will to defer to."

"Taylor does not have a living will that I know of. Do you Matty?" Cam felt panic rising up with the bile, the thought had never entered her mind that removing the ventilator would be anything other then the first step to Taylor waking up.

"I don't know of any sort of living will either." Matty replied, he was doing the best that he could to stay calm for Cam like he knew Taylor would want him to but his grip on that calm was slowly slipping.

"Ok, then you will need to decide, if we remove the ventilator and Mr. Reese is unable to breath on his own do we put the tube back in?"

Cam's first response was to laugh… well of course you would, if he can't breath why wouldn't you. Then it slowly dawned on her, the doctor was asking her to decide for Taylor if he would want to live hooked up to machines in a hospital for the rest of his life or if he would rather die. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Suddenly she couldn't breathe; her attempts at drawing a breath quickly turned in to sobs.

"So… you're asking me to… you want me to tell you its okay to let him d-d-… Oh god, this is not happening, Matty? This is not happening…"

Fighting off tears himself Matty hugged Cam to him as tightly as he could, "Cam, baby, I know this unbelievably hard. This is not a decision anyone should have to make about the person they love but if we really think about him, what he would want… there really is no question."

Cam could not bring herself to form the words but she knew that Matty was right. She and Taylor had never talked about something like this but anyone that ever knew Taylor would know that there is no way that he would want to live that way, in a hospital bed dependant on someone to go to the bathroom. Taylor had made the decision for her in the way that he lived his life. The only question was if she was strong enough to honor what he would want. She nodded agreement into Matty's chest.

"Dr. Grant, if Taylor cannot breath on his own once the ventilator is removed then that is his way of telling us it is his time to go… he wouldn't want you to…" Matty's voice cracked as the words caught in his throat " to put it back in."

"I'm sorry, I know what a terrible decision that is for you to make, but it sounds like you are doing exactly as Mr. Reese would want you to do. Ms… uh Cam… if you could please just sign here for me." He handed her a clipboard, signing her name, she felt as though she was signing Taylor's life away.

_2 years ago_

"TAYLOR? You home?" Cam yelled as she pushed her key into the door of his apartment.

She walked in and tossed her keys on the table next to the door and headed towards the bedroom.

"TAAAAYYYLLLOOORRR! Where are you?" As she rounded the corner into his room she heard the shower running in his bathroom. She slowly slid the door open, intending to sneak up on him, but as she peered into the shower it was empty. Confused she turned around to leave when she ran smack into a wet naked Taylor.

"Umf… what the hell? Damn it Taylor how am I ever supposed to sneak up on you?"

"For starters, not running through the apartment yelling would help." He smirked down at her before lifting her up over his shoulder.

"What are you doing? You're getting me all wet!" She yelled while attempting to pound and kick herself free.

"You say that like it's a bad thing…" he purred in her ear once he had her pinned on his bed.

"Mmmm, we don't have time for that… Matty and what's her name are meeting us downtown in like 45 minutes." She fought to keep focus as he lifted her shirt and slowly began to make his way from her chest to her pant line.

"Let… them… wait…"

Cam forgot what exactly her hurry was, with each small kiss their date tonight seemed less and less important. Until she saw his Yankee's T-shit lying on his bed.

"Taylor, I love you, and believe you me I want you… damn… but this is game 7! Yankees/Red Sox… do you know how long I've been dreaming of this day? And besides do you have any idea what I am going to do to you when the Red Sox win? Boy I tell you what," Cam did her worst southern accent, "you ain't seen nothin yet!"

With that his head snapped up, "Well, shit you shoulda told me that sooner… I'd a become a sox fan 6 months ago!"

They headed downtown where they meet up with Matty and Tricia at Yankee's stadium. If she hadn't been so excited, Cam would have been pissed at Matty for bringing this girl. Not only did she know absolutely nothing bout baseball but she attempted to use that fact to _flirt with Taylor _anytime Matty wasn't looking. When Matty got up to get the next round of beers the dumb girl made her move.

"So… Taylor…" She purred putting her hands around his biceps, "I love your tattoos, what does this one mean?" She asked fingering the Star of David he had on his arm.

Turning to Cam, he didn't even pretend to hide his laugh.

Cam, having had a couple of the stadium size beers decided to have some fun with the girl. "Listen, Trish? I really don't think you're Taylor's type… he's more into, how do I put this politely? Oh yeah, ME! So I suggest you get your skanky hands off his arm before I come over there and break each and every one of your fingers. Thank you, enjoy the rest of the game."

By this point Taylor was laughing so hard no sound was coming out. As soon as Matty came back with the beers the girl demanded that she would not be treated this way and insisted Matty take her home.

"Hey, thanks for coming! Matty I'll take your beer." Cam said reaching over Taylor and Trish to get the beer from Matty. He handed the beer over, confused, he then followed Trish as she stormed out of the box seats they were sitting in.

"You are some piece of work, you know that McNeil?" Taylor finally managed to get out as his laughter finally subsided.

"Yup, and that's why ya love me." Cam said with the biggest, somewhat drunken, smile she could manage.

Of course the Red Sox won 10-3 and therefore were headed to the world series, and that coupled with the endless supply of beer she had made it impossible for her to keep her hands off Taylor on the way home.

"Damn it Taylor, why did you have to drive? How am I supposed to grope you when I can't have your full attention? Can't you go any faster? You'd better be heading for my house, it's closer you know."

She could not wait to get him home and explore every inch of his body with her own. They had been dating for just over 6 months and Cam had no idea how the sex could still be so good or that she would still want it so much.

About a block and a half away from her building his phone rang, not the normal ring, the 'I've got to go take care of shit' ring. "Taylor, please, not tonight… don't answer it, there has to be somebody else that can take care of whatever it is." Cam pleaded with him.

"Babe, you know I can't do that. If I get it now maybe I can take care of it and be back before you even miss me." He responded with a quick kiss.

As he answered the phone his whole demeanor changed, "Taylor," was his only greeting, "yeah… ok… you call me with this shit? Who the fuck do you think I am?" He was beginning to get agitated with whoever was on the other end of the line. "Alright… whatever… I'll deal with it… I said I'd deal with it! Fuckin amateur hour." He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

"Why do you always have to be the one to deal with everything? Arrugh! Why can't they ever call Matty or even Marbles for the love of God!" Cam knew she was whiney but right then she didn't care, this was her night and whoever that was on the phone that couldn't take care of whatever it was was fucking with her life at that moment and she was not happy about it.

Once at her building Taylor walked her inside, kissed her and reassured her that he would be back as soon as possible. Three hours later Cam decided that he probably got tied up in something and this would be another night that Taylor left and didn't return until early the next morning, at which point he would crawl into bed wrap his arms around her and pass out. She changed and was about to climb into be when she heard her buzzer. She rushed over and hit the intercom button.

"Did you forget your key?" She joked.

"Cam it's Chris, can you buzz us in please?" Chris? What was Chris doing at her house in the middle of the night?

She opened her door and waited in the hallway to ask Chris that very question when he rounded the corner follow by two men she had never seen before, half dragging, half carrying Taylor!

"What happened?" She demanded as she cleared a spot on the bed for them to lay him down. The entire right side of his face was bruised and bloody and his eye was swollen shut. "Why did you bring him here? He should be in the hospital!"

"Cam…" came a weak rumble from the bed, "I'm fine… doc said its just a few cracked ribs… and some bruises… I'll be fine in a couple of days." Taylor slurred.

Completely at a loss Cam turned to Chris. There were no words, but her look conveyed it all.

"We had our doctor take a look at him, he said he's fine, gave him so really good drugs and told him to sleep it off."

Cam shooed the three men into the kitchen area then returned to Taylor. "Look at you… Taylor what am I going to do with you?" She asked without expecting an answer. She removed his shoes, the covered him with the bedding.

"Babe, really, I'm fine… I'm a bit… um… tired… but don't worry… I'll be fine tomorrow… you'll see I'll be fin…" he trailed off as he lost the battle to remain awake against the painkillers.

Cam returned to the kitchen where one look from her sent the two men she didn't know out into the hallway.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight? I can sleep on the couch if you want." Chris offered. She knew he was trying to be helpful but right now she just wanted everyone out of her house.

"It fine Chris, I've got him. Did the doctor have any instructions I should know about?"

Handing her a bottle of pills Chris explained that Taylor was to take 2 of them every 4 hours, drink lots of liquids, and rest.

"Thank you for bringing him to me." Cam said as she walked Chris to the door.

"He didn't give us much choice. I've gotta tell you Cam, I've known Taylor for a long time now and you are the first woman that he has ever asked for when he was hurt… he's usually more of the strong silent type. I'm not sure how you did it but you are under his skin." Chris flashed her his patented smile and closed the door behind himself.

Walking back over to the bed, Cam carefully climbed into bed on the other side of Taylor. "Taylor Reese you had better not ever scare me like this again… I would be lost if I lost you."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Taylor Reese you are quite possibly the most impossible person I have ever met in my life!" Cam threw her arms up in defeat and walked away from him.

Cam had taken Taylor back to his place earlier that day so that he could shower and change out of his muddy and blood stained clothes from the night before. He was in a tremendous amount of pain yet he was refusing to take the pain meds the doctor had given him. Once she was sure she could go back in there without punching him in his cracked ribs she slowly walked back into the living room with a glass of water.

"Oh for fuck's sake, look at you. You can't even get comfortable; you are in so much pain. What exactly are you trying to prove here Taylor and who are trying to prove it to?"

"Cam… I don't want to fight about this any more… I don't like taking those pills, they make it hard to think and then they knock me on my ass. I do not like that feeling." Taylor explained through gritted teeth, he was not only aggravated with the situation but he really was in a lot of pain.

No matter how mad she was at him she couldn't help but soften her tone as she watched him wincing while trying to settle in to the couch.

"Baby, its just you and me here, so what if the pills knock you out? What, you think I'm gonna steal your wallet and hit up 5th avenue while you're out?"

"Come on, you know that's not it… its just… ow, fuck" He said grabbing at his right side.

"Look, we've tried it your way all day today and clearly it is not working. You're tired, in a ton of pain, and you are grumpy as hell! Can you please just try it my way? If it is that awful I promise I won't bring it up again. But I'll tell you right now that if you insist on sitting here like this until you've healed, you are on your own! I will not and cannot sit here and watch you hurt yourself any more." Cam felt her throat tightening and her eyes welling with tears.

"Holy shit… that's low… really Boston? You're gonna play dirty like that? Tears? Fine! You win, give me the damn pills." Taylor looked as if he were actually pouting.

Cam held out her hand to reveal two pills, "I had a feeling you'd come around to my point of view;" she smiled as she watched him wash them down with some water.

"How's the pain now baby?" Cam asked about 15 minutes later, he had finally settled down and had a glassy eyed stare pointing towards the television.

"Hmm? Oh it's fine, I don't need any thanks." Taylor slowly responded then shook his head as if not sure what he just said. He turned his gaze to Cam with a confused look on his face; he let out a long sigh. A few minutes later Cam looked to see Taylor fighting to stay awake.

"Stop fighting it Taylor, close your eyes. The doctor said you need your rest." She encouraged him as she ran her hands over his scalp.

Taylor slid down so his head was resting on the back of the couch and closed his eyes, "you win…" as he was about to continue there was knock at the door.

"Don't even think about Taylor, I'll get it." She pulled the door open to see Matty and Chris standing there. "Hey, what's up guys? Not that I mind seeing you but ya ever hear of a phone? He's not really up for company right now."

"Sorry Cam, but we really need to talk to him. Can we come in?" Matty said as he made his way into the living room.

"Damn Taylor, you look like shit," Chris said as he walked towards the couch, "how ya feelin?"

"I'm good, what's up?" Taylor was doing his best to act normal.

Chris and Matty both turned to look at Cam. "Oh hell no! You don't get to come in here and pull the whole 'Cam you can't hear this for your own good' shit with me! Does he look like he's up to dealing with _anything _right now? Find someone else Matty, I mean it!"

"Cam… come here…please." Taylor summoned her to the couch. She reluctantly made her way over and knelt down in front of him.

"Taylor, please, you need to rest today," She said louder then needed to make a point to the other men in the room.

"I know babe, this is the first time you've been through this so you're scared and I get that, but you have to trust me. This isn't my first time and I know what I'm doing." Taylor reassured her.

"You might think this whole thing," she motioned to his injuries, "is normal and 'just another day on the job' but if you expect me to get use to this and not worry about you then we need to call this off right now! Because I can tell you right now Taylor that is never going to happen!" She stood up shot death looks at Chris and Matty and walked into the kitchen.

She knew she shouldn't listen, that he would be upset with her if he knew, but she couldn't help herself; she needed to know what happened last night and more importantly she needed to know what Matty was planning on doing about it.

"How much do you remember Taylor?" Matty began.

"You mean _after_ Pete called me to deal some shit that should have been dealt with months ago?" Cam was surprised by how awake and alert Taylor had become once they began to talk business.

"Taylor, I know you wanted to deal with Cary months ago but I can't go beyond what my father wants, you told him Cary was skimming but you didn't have the proof. What were we supposed to do? He's been with my father for 30 years." Matty did his best to play the mediator even though he had gone to his father and begged him to listen to Taylor. "What happened when you got to the warehouse?"

"What the fuck do you think happened Matty?" Taylor snapped.

"Quit being difficult, you know what I mean. Sammy said you went in alone, why would you do that?" Matty was one of the few people in this world that could talk to Taylor that way with fear of a fist to the face.

"Look, I was fucking pissed that I had to deal with this shit last night. I wanted to deal with it months ago! But instead of dealing with it then _your_ fucking father had Pete call _me _in the middle of the god damn night to go clean up a fucking mess that wouldn't have happened in the first fucking place if he would have listened to me instead of dismissing me like some fucking teenage drug dealer!" Cam could hear Taylor getting agitated and it took every ounce of will power she had not to go in there and demand that Matty and Chris leave.

"I get that Taylor, but you didn't answer my question." Matty insisted.

"Pete said Cary was alone in the warehouse, I was sloppy, I took him at his word. I was going to just go in there, drag out that little fuck, take him to your father and be done with it. I had Sammy outside, in case there were any issues." Taylor let out a heavy sigh and tried to get more comfortable. "When I went in there I grabbed Cary by his neck and started dragging him out of the office. Next thing I know I'm tied to a chair while that punk Justin and his cousin, whatever the fuck his name is, are taking turns on me with a bat."

"Do you think it was a set up?" Chris asked from his seat in the corner of the couch.

"No Scarpa, Cary just happened to be sitting alone in the office in the middle of the fucking night with 2 thugs and a needle full of tranqs." Taylor words oozed with sarcasm.

"Taylor, we have reason to believe that Pete was in on it. He's no where to be found today and word is that he was into Cary for 25 G's." Matty slowly broke the news to his friend, afraid of the outcome.

"FUCK!" Taylor roared as he picked up his glass of water and hurled it across the room. "What the FUCK was he thinking? Jesus Christ, that little mother fucker better not let me find him!"

Taylor stood up from the couch and headed for the door. Matty and Chris sat frozen, both knew better to get in is way when he had that look on his face. Peaking her head around the corner from the kitchen Cam saw Taylor slowly making his way to the door.

"Taylor Reese where the hell do you think you're going? You had better sit your ass back down on that couch right now!" Cam yelled as she placed herself between him and the door. Looking up into his eyes she saw something that she had never seen before. Taylor's eyes were black.

"Cameron, I am not in the mood for your shit right now. There is some shit that I need to handle. Please move." His words were so cold almost threatening.

"You want me to move Taylor? You're going to have to move me! You are out of your fucking mind if you think I'm going to just stand here and let you walk out that door! Matty? Chris? Can I get some help here?" Cam was furious at the two of them for coming in here and doing this.

"Taylor, she's right. You are in no shape to handle anything right now. We don't even know where he is. Why don't you let me handle it for now?" Matty was now standing next to Cam.

"Handle it? Like you handled it 3 months ago with your father? No thanks." Taylor was fuming; Cam could see every vein in his forehead.

"Enough!" Matty raised his voice; something Cam had never heard him do before. "Taylor sit your stupid ass down! Let me make a few calls and we can figure out what to do from there. Ok? Can you trust me enough to handle that? You understand that you are being a dick right now right?"

Taylor stood in front of them frozen, contemplating. He let out a long sigh and turned around. "You've got 1 hour Matty, then we do things my way. Got it?"

As Taylor made his way back to the couch Cam could see he was in pain, he was doing his best to pretend he wasn't but as he lowered himself onto the couch she saw him grimace.

"Matty could I talk to you for a second?" Cam asked. Matty nodded and they headed towards the kitchen.

As soon as they were out of Taylor's earshot Cam spun around, "What the fuck do you think you are doing," she yelled at him in a whisper. "Does he look like he's in any condition to go deal with whatever shit you've got going on? Really Matty? There was nobody else you could have brought this to?"

"Cam I didn't mean to get him so worked up. He called this morning and had some questions that he needed answered. I owe him that much." Matty couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye.

"That's bull shit and you know it! You knew exactly how he was going to react! Matty you know him better then anyone! You knew he was going to hear that and go after who ever it is that did this! You are unbelievable." Cam was so upset she was shaking. "Fix this." Cam walked back towards Taylor's bedroom and slammed the door.

Matty walked back into the living room and stood in front of Taylor on the couch; "I'm not sure who she's more mad at, me or you."

"She'll get over it." Was Taylor's response.

"Look, Taylor, I don't want to tell you your business but…" Chris started.

"Then don't." Taylor cut him off.

"I'm just saying that last night you were pretty adamant that you needed her and she was pretty worried about you, now may not be the best time to push her. She's new to this. She didn't sign up for this life, she came here to work at the club." Chris continued.

"I think I'm all set on advice Scarpa." Taylor was in no mood for any of this bull shit. He wanted nothing more then to find Pete, beat the shit of him, then find his boss and do the same. He didn't take well to being told to wait and let other people handle his business.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Taylor asked Matty as he headed toward the door.

"I said I've got some calls to make, you gave me an hour remember."

"You are out of your fucking mind if you think I'm gonna let you walk out that door! You're phone works just fine right here!" Taylor stood walking towards Matty.

"Seriously Taylor? Next time this happens you bet your ass I'm gonna pay the doc extra to knock your ass out for a week! Fine, I'll make my calls here. Happy?"

"Ecstatic."

Taylor sat on the couch watching Matty through the window, on the roof top deck, pacing back and forth while on the phone. He knew that he had probably made things worse with all his moving around, his entire body felt like it was on fire and any sudden move, no matter how small, caused white stars in his vision.

Chris decided to head to the bedroom to check on Cam. He hesitantly raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Cam, can I come in?"

"If I say no will you go away?" Cam asked.

"Probably not."

Cam walked over to the door and opened it a crack. "Did he leave?"

"No, Matty is still on the phone. Come on Cam can I come in?" Chris flashed her his best smile.

"Whatever." She stepped aside and let Chris come in.

"Taylor has been doing this a long time ya know. I know that we don't talk to you about what it is we do besides the restaurant and club but you're not dumb Cam. You know. What he does is dangerous and sometimes he gets hurt, its part of the job. Taylor is really good at what he does; this doesn't happen very often trust me. But when it does he has to put his work in front of his recovery, it's important for him to show strength right now. I know it sucks, but it's the way it is." Chris explained as he moved closer.

"Is it really going to make that much of a difference if he waits a couple of days?" She asked

"Honestly, yeah it could. If he needs to do this, trust me; don't fight him on it. He loves you but he is also very stubborn. Don't let this be the thing that comes between you." Chris placed an arm around her shoulders.

The two headed back into the living room. Cam could see Matty outside pacing while on his phone; Taylor was sitting on the couch watching him as if he were about to escape. She quietly sat down next to him, as she did she saw him wince.

"Hey." She whispered.

"Hey." He responded.

"Taylor, I trust you. If you tell me that you need to do this, that it has to be you, I won't try to stop you."

When he turned to face her she was surprised to see sadness there. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you, you were just trying to take care of me. Thank you for understanding what I need to do, I don't want to hurt you babe but I need to handle my business." He said stroking her cheek.

The door creaked as Matty came back inside. "Alright, here it is… uh Cam could you maybe go out into…"

"Matty don't even start, I'm staying right here." Matty looked to Taylor who nodded his approval.

"Ok, so I just got off the phone with Sammy, he said that he and Dominic found Pete and they are on their way back with him right now." Matty reported.

"What's the ETA?" Taylor questioned.

"It doesn't matter…" Something about Matty's tone was off.

"The fuck it doesn't! I want to be the first person that little fuck sees when he gets out of the car!" Taylor roared as he stood up.

"Taylor, he confessed to the whole thing. As soon as he saw Sammy he started begging for his life and agreed to tell my father everything that happened."

"Matty, what aren't you telling me?" He knew his friend too well; there was something else.

"The only way he agreed to talk was if my father promised to keep you away from him." Matty actually seemed to be shrinking back into the corner of the room as he spoke.

Everyone in the room was bracing themselves for an explosion. All eyes were on Taylor. "Benny agreed to those terms?"

"He did, Taylor before you do anything…" Taylor cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"It's done, Benny's the boss. Pete will get his, make no mistake about that, but this ain't the time." Taylor sat back down on the couch and turned the TV on. "Cam, can you come here please?"

The room was completely silent but for the sound of the TV. "What do you need Taylor?" She said sitting close to him on the couch.

"Could you do me a favor and grab me two more of those pills?" He said without looking away from the ball game he had found.

"Sure." Cam threw suspicious glances at both Matty and Chris before heading to the kitchen to get the pills and a glass of water. "Here ya go baby. Do you want something to eat? It says you should take them with food." Taylor nodded his head no then swallowed the pills without the water.

"Well, I guess we'll get going then, leave you to get some rest Taylor." Chris said as he ushered Matty towards the door.

"Stay, game 7 of the NLDS is on. Cubs vs. Cardinals it should be a great game watch it with us." Taylor phased it as a suggestion but his tone implied otherwise. Cam followed with a pleading look saying 'please don't leave me with him right now'.

Within 10 minutes Taylor had the same glassy eyed stare as before only this time he grabbed a throw pillow from the end of the couch placed it in Cam's lap and laid down. Inside of 2 minutes of lying down he was asleep. Brushing her hand along the stubble on his head Cam looked up to meet Matty's eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Cam whispered.

"I wish I knew." Matty responded.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't good. I have a feeling this isn't going to be the last we hear about this Cary/Pete mess." Chris added from across the room.

Present Day

Cam sat next to Taylor's bed holding his hand, Matty stood next to her with his hand on Taylor's shoulder. The doctor was on his way to remove the ventilator and even though Cam and Matty were doing their best to remain hopeful the reality of the situation was that this might be the last time either of them get to see him alive.

"Taylor Reese you are the love of my life, you hear me? I know you hate it when I use tears on you to get my way but I'm desperate here… baby, you have to fight for me… the doctor is going to come and take that ventilator out and I need you to breath babe… I need you, so many people need you." Cam had given up completely on keeping it together.

Matty leaned down to console her then turned back to Taylor. "Alright Taylor, I'm not going to get all emotional on you here cause I know that you're going to pull through this and I don't want to listen to it once you're out of here. So just breath for us when they take that tube out." Matty could feel his throat getting tight and his eyes were filling with tears but he was determined not to lose it in front of Cam.

"Excuse me, the doctor is here, are you folks ready?" Taylor's nurse stuck her head in to ask.

Cam couldn't take her eyes off Taylor, she wanted to memorize ever inch of him, what if this was the last time she ever felt the warmth of his body? Matty cleared his throat but was still unable to speak through the emotion building in his chest so he nodded permission to the nurse who left to get the doctor.

The doctor came in and explained what exactly he was doing as he was doing it. He explained that they had reduced the sedative to help Taylor's body with the transition off the machine. There was a chance that Taylor could regain consciousness, if only momentarily, once the ventilator was removed. He allowed Cam and Matty to stay exactly where they were, hands on Taylor. Once the tube was removed they sat there for what seemed like an eternity, waiting.

They watched in horror as Taylor suddenly began gasping and coughing, his eyes opened and Cam could see he was confused he was frantically trying to get his breath while also trying to grasp the situation.

"Taylor… Taylor, look at me." Cam instructed him as she put her hand on his face in an effort to calm him. "Taylor, you're in the hospital, you're okay, I'm here and so is Matty." He was still gasping as Cam turned his face until it met hers. Taylor locked eyes with Cam and after a few seconds his breathing began to even out and the coughing subsided.

"Cam?" Taylor whispered barely audible.

"Oh God, Taylor, I'm here baby, I'm right here." Cam reassured him.

"Cam… I'm sorry. Are…you…okay?"

"Shh… Taylor, it's okay, I'm fine. Just rest now, I'll be here when you wake up. Rest." Cam leaned down and kissed his lips. He was doing his best to stay awake but he was so confused, everything hurt, and he was so tired.

"I need… I need to talk to Mat… to Matty… can you call…" Taylor stuttered. Taylor took a deep breath and tried to remember why he needed Matty.

"Taylor, I'm right here. What ever it is, it can wait. Ok? Right now you just need to listen to Cam, get some sleep, we can talk when you wake up." Matty said moving into Taylor's sight line.

"Cam…" Taylor started as his eyes slid closed. "I lov…"

"I love you too." She responded as she kissed the top of his head.

Cam turned to Matty and threw her arms around him. "He's going to be okay, oh God Matty, he's gonna come home to me." As she hugged him the tears began to fall and as she looked up to Matty she saw the tears in his eyes too.

"Hear that?" Matty smiled through his tears, Taylor was snoring. "We've got our boy back." Was all he said as they both turned to look at him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Cam felt like she was floating. Taylor was going to be ok! She was on her way back to the hospital after finally agreeing to go home, shower and change. For the first time since this ordeal had started she felt like it was safe to leave his side, that he would still be there when she got back. As much as she hated to admit Matty was right, he was, she felt like a whole new person after washing her hair and changing her clothes, not that she would admit it to him. Before she left the apartment she had thrown some of Taylor's things in a bag to help him feel a bit more at home in the hospital. Although he was breathing on his own and had even woken up for a very short period of time the doctors were very clear that he still had a very long way to go.

He had been shot twice, once through the shoulder and once in the abdomen. The bullet that went in his abdomen had gone out of its way to hit as many major organs as possible. Cam's favorite of Taylor's nurses, Eloise, had explained it to her as if the bullet were the ball in a pin ball game. The image was horrifying but Cam was thankful for an explanation she could grasp instead of all the medical jargon she got from the doctors and other nurses.

As she rounded the corner to Taylor's room she heard voices.

"Your father is going to take care of this isn't he?" She heard Chris ask. Matty must have responded negatively because the next time Chris spoke the tone of his voice was one that Cam had never heard from the easy going ladies man.

"The fuck do you mean no!" Chris bellowed. "Enough of this shit Matty! Look at him! He almost died! After everything he's done for your father and he is going to let this go unpunished?"

"I had that exact fight with him Scarpa, he said there's not enough proof, he doesn't want to start a war." Matty's voice sounded flat, like someone had drained the emotion from him.

"Fuck that! He means he doesn't want to start a war over Taylor, a Jew, and without Taylor, his best enforcer! This is bull shit Matty and you know it!"

"What? You think I like this? That I can sit here and look at him or at Cam and be okay with this? What the fuck do you want me to do? I don't have an army? I don't even have muscle… he's laying in that bed fighting for his fucking life!" The fight was back in Matty's voice.

Cam heard Chris let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, I know this is killing you too. I just feel so fucking useless. If this were you or I or Marbles do you think Taylor would just be sitting here saying 'oh well, Benny's the boss, nothing we can do about it'? Fuck no! He would have taken out half the fucking city by now."

Cam took a step back and leaned up against the wall. She hadn't really thought all that much about the how or why he got here or what would happen because of it. She had been 100% focused on each moment and what they meant for his recovery.

The smile that had been plastered on her face all day was gone, she waited for silence in the room, did her best to look like she was as happy as when she left, and went in.

"Hey Chris!" She smiled as she gave him a quick hug. "I see Matty told you the good news, Taylor's breathing on his own. Did he tell you that he even woke up for a minute?"

"Yeah, that's great huh? Never a doubt in my mind though. He's Taylor, he can survive anything." Chris smiled back at her.

"Did he wake up again at all while I was gone Matty?" Cam asked as she began to unpack the bag that she had brought with her.

"Not really, asked for you a couple times but I don't think he was really awake. Doctor came by, said that everything looked good and that if he has a good night tonight they will think about moving him out of ICU in the next couple of days." Matty reported.

"Did he say anything about when he might be more awake? When we might be able to really talk to him?" Cam was hopeful that a move from ICU would mean fewer drugs, which would mean more Taylor.

"He said that he had started cutting back the meds earlier so he should be more alert soon."

As if on cue Taylor moaned and began to stir, "Christ Demaret, I'm tryin to sleep over here."

At the sound of his voice Cam rushed to his side. "Taylor? Can you hear me?"

"You're standing right next to me." He whispered as he slowly opened his eyes. Cam let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding and leaned down to kiss his cheek.

"How are you feeling?" Was all she could get out through the emotions caught in her chest.

"Like I got hit by… a truck."

"Damn Taylor, you scared the shit out of us." Matty scolded him as he approached the bed.

"What day is it? Where am I?" Taylor attempted to sit up but immediately felt like his insides were tearing apart and lay back down. "What the fuck happened to me?"

"Shhh, baby calm down. You can't get all worked up or the doctors are libel to come in here and throw us out. You are in the hospital; you've been here since Saturday. Today is Tuesday."

"Tuesday?" Taylor closed his eyes trying to put the pieces together but was coming up empty, he felt himself drifting to sleep and quickly opened his eyes and tried again to sit up. He noticed for the first time the IV in his arm. He decided that was the cause of his discomfort and confusion and concluded that it needed to come out.

"What the hell are they giving me? What is in this thing? I can't think straight."

"Taylor, Taylor…" Cam attempted to get his attention. "Babe, you've got to leave that in, you need this to get better. Taylor please, for me, leave it alone."

"Matty, what the fuck happened to me?" Taylor was almost pleading; panic was starting to rise in his voice. It was clear that these meds were messing with him. It was hard to watch.

"Taylor, you were shot… twice." Matty told his friend, he waited for it to sink in before he went on. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Taylor honestly couldn't remember anything… everything was a blur. He felt his eyes trying to close as he concentrated on trying to remember but he was determined to stay awake until he had answers.

"I was… at home… with Cam… we were watching that stupid movie she likes so much…somebody called… you? Maybe?"

Cam wasn't sure which had been worse waiting for Taylor to finally open his eyes so she could talk to him or this. He was so not Taylor. He was weak, confused, and she thought she saw a hint of fear in his eyes. Taylor was never afraid, not of anything.

"No Taylor, it wasn't me. I didn't call you, Chris did." As if noticing Chris was in the room for the first time Taylor turned to him.

"You called me? We, no I went… fuck… what the hell is going on right now?" Taylor was starting to get very upset.

"That's enough guys," Cam was about two seconds from kicking them out. "He's clearly not ready for this right now. I think it can wait."

"Cam's right Taylor, you just rest. We're not going anywhere. We can talk about this later." Matty added as he put his hand on his best friend's shoulder.

As if he had been waiting for permission Taylor stopped fighting his exhaustion and allowed himself to drift back to sleep.

_1 year ago_

"Taylor Reese it is time for you to get your lazy ass out of that bed!" Cam yelled as she walked past the door to their bedroom. They had been living together for almost 6 months.

Taylor painfully pulled himself from the warmth of the bed, pulled on a pair of navy blue cotton lounge pants and dragged himself to the kitchen.

"What time is it?" He asked not able to get his eyes to focus on the clock.

"10:00." She responded as chipper as she could.

"I've only been in bed for 3 hours woman… what are you trying to do to me?" He whined "And besides that… I dropped you off here at 4:00… how the fuck are you so damn up right now?"

After the incident at the club a couple years ago he never let her be there alone. Every Saturday night he would come in and wait until she was finished with the liquor order then take her home. On the rare occasions that he couldn't do it himself he made sure that someone was there in his place.

Cam put on her best pouting face, "Taylor… tomorrow's a big day. I thought you would be more excited. I thought you would want to spend the day together. Maybe celebrate the fact that today is the last day of this part of your life?" He was so easy to get a reaction out of when he was tired; it made it so much more fun.

"You have got to be kidding me… I'm going back to bed." He turned as started back towards the bedroom.

"Ok… if it doesn't mean that much to you… that's fine…" She watched as he stopped threw his head back and tried to compose himself before turning around. She was doing all she could to keep from laughing but it was such a rare occasion that she could get him going that she could not pass it up. When she saw him start rubbing his temple with his thumb she decided that he had had enough. Finally letting out her laugh she jogged up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I'm just playin with you babe. You really think I was going all bridzilla on you?" She said giggling. "Matty called a little bit ago, he says he needs to see you at the restaurant. He promised that it wouldn't take too long but said that it had to be done this morning. Sorry babe… I'd a let ya sleep, take it up with your boy." She smacked his ass and headed back towards the kitchen.

He had proposed to her a few weeks prior on the way back from a Red Sox/Yankees game at Yankee stadium. It was nothing fancy, no grand gestures, it was perfect. He told her that she could have whatever kind of wedding she wanted, wherever she wanted.

She really had thought about the big traditional Catholic church weddings like she had been to for various family and friends over the years back home but quickly decided that neither she nor Taylor would be comfortable with that. She decided that she wanted just a simple ceremony at the courthouse with a few close friends and her parents. They decided to hold the ceremony on Taylor's parents' anniversary. It was his one request to honor their memory. He didn't speak about his parents often, and she could tell that they had been very close and that their deaths were still very painful for him.

"Who gets married on a Monday morning?" Marbles had asked her when she told him the plans. "I guess, you guys just _have _to be different. How early are we talkin?" She smacked him.

Now here it was the day before her wedding, she thought she should or would be nervous but she was anything but. Her parents were flying in from Boston today and she had just finished cleaning before she had to leave to pick them up. She had planned on letting Taylor sleep until the last possible minute then taking him with her to pick them up. Her parents had been to visit twice since she moved to New York but both times Taylor had been working and unable to meet them. They had planned to fly to Boston last summer for the express purpose of Taylor meeting her family but at the last minute a crisis that required his immediate attention sent her home alone. The running joke in her family had become that she had just made this man up. He didn't really exist, her oldest brother actually went so far as to start a pool as to how long she would carry out the charade of a wedding before she came clean to their parents.

"Taylor? This really isn't going to take long is it? This 'whatever' Matty needs you for…" she questioned as he finished getting ready.

"I don't know babe… you're the one that talked to him, not me." He sensed her disappointment and stopped what he was doing. He walked into the kitchen, put his arms around her waist and started kissing her neck.

"I know that you want me to meet your parents, since we're getting married tomorrow and all, and believe me I want to meet them too. I promise that I will take care of whatever it is that Matty needs and meet you wherever you want me to." He continued to kiss up her neck.

"You'd better stop that or my parents are going to be stuck at the airport…"

Reluctantly he punctuated his invitation with a quick kiss on the cheek, grabbed his keys and opened the door. "I'll make this as quick as possible. Love you."

She watched the door close behind him and something inside of her knew that he would not make it to dinner.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Cameron, this restaurant looks even more amazing then the last time we came to visit." Cam and her parents were at her restaurant to meet Taylor for dinner. She had offered to take them somewhere more elite but the insisted on eating where she worked.

"Thanks Ma, but I don't think you're the most objective critic in the world." Cam chuckled at her mother. No matter what Cam had done, or tried to do, in her life her parents had always supported her 100%, she knew that she wouldn't be where she was in life if it hadn't been for them. She was so excited that they were finally going to meet Taylor and that they would be there to stand next to her at her wedding.

"Sweetheart, is Taylor going to be joining us?" Her father was doing his best to be patient but except for a few passing conversations he still had yet to met the man he was supposed to give his daughter away to tomorrow.

"Yes Daddy, he'll be here. He just had some business he had to attend to. He promised he'd be here." Cam was beginning to get nervous. Taylor had left before 11:00 this morning to take care of something for Matty 'real quick'. It was now 8:00 and she hadn't been able to get a hold of him all day.

Cam had reserved the best table in the dinning room for them. It sat, slightly elevated, in the front window and had a fantastic view of the New York skyline. It had perfectly pressed white linen napkins folded in fan shaped designs resting atop a navy blue wrapped table with polished stainless steel accents on the center piece and trimmings. She wanted tonight to be perfect.

At 8:30 when she still hadn't heard from Taylor she excused herself. She headed down to the office to see if she could find Matty. The whole way there she was wondering if she would be able to strangle him before Sammy was able to pull her off.

When she approached the door she heard him just hanging up a call. She didn't bother knocking.

"Where is he?" She demanded, still considering strangulation.

"He's not back yet?" Matty looked genuinely surprised.

"Don't play coy with me Demaret, when I talked to you this morning you said whatever it was had to be done right that second and that it would be real quick! THAT WAS 9 HOURS AGO! He is supposed to be sitting out there eating dinner with my parents and I, but noooo, he had to do something REAL QUICK the day before our wedding and now he's MIA!" Cam finally snapped. She had been calm all day, through the questions from her parents: Why Taylor didn't come to the airport? Why Taylor didn't meet them in town for lunch? What exactly did Taylor do for a living that kept him so busy? She could not be calm for one more second.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec, what I asked Taylor to do wasn't something that shouldn't have kept him out all day. I knew your parents were coming in today and I know how important it was for both of you that Taylor meet them. People say I'm a prick Cam but even I'm not so self absorbed the I would pull him away from you all day." Matty walked towards her trying to get her to sit down before she carried out the murderous intent he saw in her eyes.

"Let me make a few calls, see where he is, okay?" Matty picked up the phone his desk and started dialing.

"So help him if he answers his cell when _you _call." Cam fumed from the couch.

After a few calls Matty slowly placed the receiver back in it cradle then kept his hand there. Cam could tell he was either trying to figure out how to break bad news to her or how to cover for his friend, either way she was going over that desk at him if he didn't say something in the next five seconds.

"So… the good news is that he is ok." Matty began very deliberately, "the bad news is… well, he's in jail."

"JAIL!" Cam was so furious she thought for sure she was about to blow a blood vessel in her brain, "You had better be kidding Matty! This is unbelievable! I'm gonna kill him! No, I'm gonna kill you! You are both dead to me! How the fuck am I supposed to explain this to my parents? 'Oh sorry mom and dad but there won't be a wedding because my fiancé is a fucking enforcer for the fucking mob and he was stupid enough to land his sorry ass in jail the day before our wedding!" Cam was screaming at this point. Matty was sure that the entire restaurant had heard her.

"Cam, please calm down for a second, let me get you some water or something." Matty grabbed a cup from his personal bar and headed towards the sink.

"Unless that cup has straight up tequila in it and you can get my fiancé here in the next hour you had better not even think of coming within 10 feet of me!"

"Ok, here, tequila… let me tell you what we're doing to get him out." Matty handed her the glass and quickly retreated to the other side of his desk.

"He called Diane… wait, before you start screaming again, he called her in hopes that she could have this all sorted out and have him out before you even had to know anything went wrong."

"Yeah, well how'd that work out for him?"

"Diane said that he will be arraigned at night court tonight and that with the case they have against him she will have him out on bail and home before the night is over." Matty reported, hoping this would be an acceptable solution.

"Wow, really, that's great Matty. He'll be home sometime tonight?" Cam asked with enthusiasm. Happy that Cam seemed to be calmer he shook his head yes.

"Well alright then, I guess I'll just go out there and tell my parents that everything's fine… no worries…" Matty was slowly realizing the calm was a front. "Mom and dad, Taylor can't join us right now but once we spring him from the slammer he'll be right along… what's that? Oh don't worry, his ankle monitor will match my dress perfectly… ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GOD DAMN MIND MATTY?"

"Well, don't tell them that he is in jail then… tell them that he had to go… I don't know. What _did _you tell them that he did for a living?" He knew Taylor had told him once what the cover story was but damn if he could remember.

"I told them he was a club promoter and that he worked security for some wealthy clients." She had wanted to honest with her parents but couldn't quite get there so she and Taylor had come up with a story that could be thought of as true, in a court of law.

"Huh, security, that's not bad… tell them that one of Taylor's clients had been threatened and that he had been detained while trying to resolve the issue." Matty smiled, amused with himself for the play on words. Cam clearly did not share his amusement.

"Yeah, I've got it, thanks." Cam rolled her eyes and sighed heavily as she made her way back to the table. As she approached the table she mustered up every ounce of energy she had left to give her parents the cover story.

"Cameron, you can stop with the story sweetheart. Your father knows how to use the Google, Taylor is on there." Her mother's technology phobia was usually amusing but tonight it freaked her out. "We've had our suspicions." Her father chimed in.

"What are you trying to say?" She knew they knew but for some reason she needed to hear them say it.

"Cameron, we know who he is and what he does. You are well past the age where we can tell you what to do, if you say that he is a good person and that he loves you and will protect you and your heart then we have to trust you. We trust that we raised you up to be an intelligent, caring, and loving young woman. What would it say about us if we didn't respect you and your choices at this point in your life? Don't get me wrong, your old man here is not going to be bragging around the water cooler at the office that his daughter is married to some hit man but I love you and I want you to be happy. You just have to promise me, and if I ever get to meet this Taylor, he has to promise me that he would lay down his life to protect you." Her father reached over and squeezed her hand on the table.

Cam felt as if she were going to cry. All these months she had been playing word games for fear that her parents wouldn't accept Taylor or the man the world said that he was, she could not believe that her parents were giving her their blessing.

With the truth out in the open they were able to enjoy dinner, even without Taylor. Afterwards Cam took them back to their hotel for the night. "I love you sweetheart," her mother kissed her as she moved to get out of the cab, "do you need me to do anything for you before we get to the courthouse?"

"No, thank you Mom, I'll see you in the morning. I love you." Cam waived good bye to her parents as the cab pulled away from the hotel. She sat in the back seat with her fingers crossed that Taylor would be out on bail in time to make it to their wedding.

Right as the cab was pulling up to the front of the building, her phone rang. "Hey Matty, what's up? Please tell me you are calling with good news."

"Cam it's me." Taylor's voice was slow and unsure.

"Taylor? Oh my god, I don't know whether to laugh or cry right now. I don't know if I want to hug you or kill you?" She tossed $40 at the driver and headed for the door.

"Baby, I am so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Can I come home?" He sounded so upset.

"Of course you can come home Taylor, why wouldn't you?" Had something happened that she didn't know about?

"I don't know, I was afraid that this might be it for you. How many times have I had to break promises to you? And now, the night before our wedding? Damn, I'm an ass. I wouldn't let me come home if I were you." He mumbled.

"Taylor, I love you… period. I knew how your life worked when I agreed to move in with you. I knew you wouldn't always be able to keep your promises when I agreed to marry you. But I also know that for the rest of our lives I will always be first in your heart and that is all that matters to me. I'll see you when you get home baby, I love you." With that Cam hung up the phone and got ready for bed.

About an hour later Taylor slowly opened the apartment door. Positive she was asleep he crept into the living room to get undressed so as not to wake her. When he turned on the small lamp on his desk he saw her asleep on the couch covered with her favorite snowman blanket.

"Cam, baby, what are you doing on the couch?" Taylor asked as he kissed her gently.

"hmm… I was waiting for you…" her voice thick with sleep.

Picking her up carefully he carried her to their bedroom and placed her on the bed. Traditionally the bride and groom were not supposed to see each other the night before or the day of the wedding so naturally Cam and Taylor spent the night before their wedding making love and woke the day of wrapped in each other's arms.

Present Day

Taylor was still in ICU but had been moved to a different, more permanent room then the one he had been in for the past few days. Matty and Chris had left soon after the nurses had gotten Taylor settled in his new room. Cam suggested and Matty agreed that nobody needed a replay of the scene from the last time Taylor woke up. Cam promised to call once he was more lucid and ready for the kinds of questions that seeing Matty and Chris brought.

Since getting to the new room he had called for her several times and requested water, which he couldn't have yet, but he hadn't come fully awake again. For that, Cam was somewhat grateful. She had never seen Taylor as hurt, confused, or afraid as he had been and that was something that she didn't think she could handle seeing again. Finally after a few restless hours he had settled down for the rest of the night.

Cam was grateful that there was a bench under the room's only window that was supposed to double as a twin bed but it was by far the most uncomfortable bed she had ever attempted to sleep on in her life. If only out of sheer exhaustion she had finally fallen asleep wrapped in a hospital blanket with Taylor's favorite sweatshirt on her pillow.

As the morning sun shone through the window she fumbled to find the strings to the blinds so she might be able to sleep for a few more hours. She finally got the blinds drawn and turned to check on Taylor before lying back down. When she looked over to his bed his beautiful chocolate eyes met her.

"Taylor? Baby are you awake?" She moved slowly over to his bed side.

"Yeah…" His voice was raspy and soft.

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I was just laying here… trying to sort some things out… watching you sleep." He was more awake then he had been before but he sounded so weak, it broke Cam's heart.

"How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" Cam had an overwhelming need to do something for him. She had felt so useless the last few days.

"Nah, I'm good. Jesus Cam… what the hell happened to me? My heads all… fucked up… I can't remember shit… I hurt like hell… and I'm exhausted."

"You're in the hospital baby, you got shot… twice. The who, what, and where I don't know but you are hurt pretty bad. You were in surgery for hours, then they had you on a ventilator to help you breath." She wasn't sure if she was giving him too much information but he seemed like he needed to know what was going on so she continued. "You have been pretty out of it since they took the ventilator out. Do you remember Matty and Chris being here?"

"That was real? Damn, it felt like a dream… was Chris yelling?"

"No baby, not at you. I think he and Matty may have had an argument but you were still asleep at that point. You heard that?" Cam started to worry what else he may have heard while he was unconcious.

"I don't know… Chris was yelling, I was pissed at Matty, he wasn't supposed to call you… you were alone… fuck…" it was clear that the whole ordeal was still jumbled in his mind.

"Don't worry about all of that Taylor. You're awake now, I'm here with you, and I'm not going anywhere. You have the rest of your life to get all this straight in your head." She reassured him stroking his arm.

"You look beautiful." He smiled.

"You're a terrible liar."

"I've been dreaming about you…" He suggested.

"Taylor Reese are you flirting with me from a hospital bed?"

"Can't hate a guy for tryin right?"

"I'm going to go get the doctor, he'll want to talk to you now that you are awake." Cam started to move away from his bed when he caught her wrist.

"I don't need the doctor… I need you." He insisted.

"Slow down there Romeo, lets get you on solid foods first okay." Cam laughed at him.

"Can I at least get a kiss?"

As Cam leaned down to kiss him a knock came at the door. It was Eloise.

"Well good morning Mr. Reese. It is so nice to see you awake. How are you feeling?" She asked as she moved around to the other side of the bed to check his monitors.

"Like shit." He was honest.

"Well, I'm afraid that is to be expected. You've been through quite a lot over the last few days. My name is Eloise; I've been your nurse since you came down from surgery. If you need anything you go ahead and push that read button and I'll do what I can for you." She smiled as she handed him the call switch. "Right now it is time for another dose of your antibiotics and your pain meds."

"I think I'll pass on the pain meds, they're messing with my head." Taylor suggested.

"I'm sorry Mr. Reese but pain management is a very important part of the healing process and you may be the toughest guy on this planet but you cannot manage the amount of pain you have with the shear force of will. Refusing the medication will only delay or set back your healing process."

Taylor began to argue but was quickly cut off. "Taylor, now is not the time to be stubborn, please don't argue just take the meds. I talked to the doctor about how much you hate taking drugs but he insisted that you wouldn't have a choice. He said that he would let you try a day without them once you were out of ICU but for now they are mandatory." Cam informed him, ending the argument before it could start.

"Fine." Taylor let out a loud sigh as Eloise injected his IV.

Cam watched as the drugs literally hit his blood stream. At once his face got flush and his eyes began to droop.

"See… this is… what… I… mean…" his words were slurred. "I… fuckin… hate this… this shit…"

"Close your eyes Taylor, just think of this as a means to an end. You take the drugs, you get better, you come home."

With the last bit of strength he could gather Taylor fought to ask Cam one more thing, "Can… you… get… Matty… up… here… today?"

As she watched Taylor relax back into sleep she picked up the phone that sat on the bedside table.

"He's asking for you… You've got a couple of hours before the pain meds wear off… I think you should come… he was stronger this time… I know what I said Matty but he needs answers." Cam hung up the phone, went back to her seat under the window and watched as the city came to life for the day.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Where'd you go?" Cam was greeted as she walked back into Taylor's room.

"Hey baby, you're awake." She walked over and kissed his forehead. "I just ran to the cafeteria, I thought you'd be asleep for hours. How long have you been up?"

"Not long, just got a little freaked out when I woke up and you weren't here." Taylor said as he rubbed his temples.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out. Are you feeling ok?" Cam pulled the only chair in the room up to the side of his bed.

"Yeah, I'm good… has the doc been in? When am I getting out of here?"

"Taylor, I know you don't want to hear this but… you're going to be in here awhile. The doctor came in while you were sleeping and said that he thought you were doing well enough to be moved out of ICU to a regular room, lets get you there first before we worry about when you get to go home." Cam knew that the more awake Taylor got the more difficult it was going to be to keep him in the hospital.

Taylor put his head back on the bed, closed his eyes, and took several deep breaths. Cam knew that look all too well; he was trying to stop himself from getting angry.

"Taylor, baby, we'll get there. You were shot and had major surgery, you're heart stopped baby. Just try to relax and be patient, we will get you home but not until you're strong enough." Cam did her best to keep the fear out of her voice.

Releasing another breath Taylor opened his eyes and attempted to sit up. "Cam, I'm so sorry that you had to go through this. I never meant for this to happen."

"Well, I certainly hope you didn't get shot on purpose!" Cam responded with a small chuckle.

"That's not what I meant, come on, you know what I mean. I'm sorry. I never want to hurt you or be responsible for you being afraid." Cam could hear the emotion in Taylor's voice.

"I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen. Just promise me that you are going to give yourself time to heal. I'm going to be here with you every step of the way, please promise me that you are going to stay here as long as the doctors say you need to and that you are going to let Matty handle whatever it is that got you here?" Now that Taylor was more awake, she knew that he was going to be anxious to take care of whatever or whoever it was that put him in here.

"All I can promise is that I'll try. You know how I feel about hospitals." Taylor responded with a small smile.

"Well I guess that's a start."

"Can you hand me the phone?" Taylor asked after he was unsuccessful in trying to reach it himself.

"Who ya callin?" Cam hesitated.

"Babe, I need to talk to Matty."

"He'll be up here in any time now. Don't you remember asking me to call him for you?" Cam reached over and stroked his cheek.

"No, maybe? Fuck, I can't stand this shit their putting in me…"

"I know, but right now you need it, if for no other reason then its keeping you from doing too much before you're ready."

As they sat in silence Cam continued to stroke his cheek, she watched as his eyes got heavy though he did his best to keep them open.

"When is Matty going to get here?" He asked trying to distract himself from how tired he was.

"He'll be here soon, why don't you close your eyes, I promise we'll wake you when he gets here." Cam suggested.

"That's all I've done for days… maybe I want to stay awake… talk with my beautiful wife."

"You know you're starting to sound like Chris," Cam smiled. "You know he flirted his way into your room the other day?"

"I would expect nothing less."

Cam ran her fingers up and down his arm as he dozed waiting for Matty to arrive, both jumped when a knock came at the door.

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. My name is Lucy, I'm here to take you to your new room." A nurse peaked her head into the room.

"Are you sure he's supposed to move? I thought the doctor said he was going to be in ICU for a couple more days?" Cam questioned.

"Nope, today's your lucky day Mr. Reese. Dr. Grant says you are sprung from this place. We will be moving you to the 6th floor, you will probably even get to have some broth and Jell-O!" Cam noted to herself that this girl was way too chipper.

"Great, doc said once I was out of ICU this damn IV could come out too. You gonna take it out now or should I wait until you're not looking and do it myself." Taylor questioned the young girl. She looked back at him not sure if he was serious.

"Well, Mr. Reese, lets get you settled in your new room and you can talk to Dr. Grant about that once he comes by to see you." The young girl quickly started moving about the room disconnecting things.

Just as an orderly came in to help with the move Matty came jogging up beside him.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded when he saw Cam waiting in the hallway. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. They are moving him out of ICU, he's heading down to the 6th floor to a regular room."

"Wow, so soon? That's a good thing right?" Matty was confused by the expression on her face.

"Yeah, of course, it's a great thing. It means he's getting better, that he'll be able to come home soon." Cam reassured him.

"Then why the face?"

"Matty, I'm just worried that he's going to do something stupid and jeopardize his recovery. I don't ever want to go through this again…" As she was about to fill Matty in on the rest of her fears about Taylor the orderly and the young nurse began pushing his bed out the door.

"Mrs. Reese would you like to come with us?" The young girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm right behind you. How ya doing Taylor?" Cam asked as he rolled by.

"Cam, I'm fine… all I have to do is lay here… pretty sure I can handle that." She couldn't tell if it was annoyance or sarcasm that she heard in his voice. "Matty?"

"Hey, Taylor, I'm here."

"Don't even think about going anywhere… you and I have some shit to sort out." Taylor ordered as the doors of the elevator were closing.

_1 year ago_

The bright sun of the early fall New York sky shone in through their bedroom window slowly coaxing Cam from her slumber. She raised her head slightly to look at the clock, 6:30. Their appointment at the courthouse wasn't until 10:00 but Cam was far too excited to try going back to sleep. She knew she should get up, she felt like there was so much left to do before they left, but the warmth and comfort of Taylor's bare chest were too much to give up just yet.

They had made love for half the night, each caring more for the other's pleasure then their own. It had been different then in the past, more intimate and sensual somehow, neither of them wanted it to end but eventually exhaustion took over and they settled into each other's warm embrace.

Cam looked up to Taylor's sleeping face and felt her chest tighten and her eyes well with tears, she never imagined that she could love someone as much as she loved him. Cam thought back to the men that she had loved over the years, all those feelings seemed trivial now. Taylor was going to be her husband; she was going to be Mrs. Taylor Reese. She let out a small laugh.

"How can you sleep right now?" She asked Taylor, knowing she wasn't going to get a response. She began tracing his tattoos with her finger, when that didn't get a response she slowly moved her hand lower to trace the 'v' of his muscles. He stirred slightly and rolled towards her, engulfing her in his arms. Cam started kissing along his collarbone, "Taaayloor…" she sang.

"Mmm…" Taylor wrapped her tighter in his arms.

As she was working her way from his collarbone to his lips she heard her phone; it was her mother's ring tone. Under normal circumstances she would have let it go to voice mail but she knew that her mother wouldn't appreciate the brush off today. Cam wiggled her way out of Taylor's embrace, once she was free of him he rolled the other way and went back to sleep.

"Hi mom."

"Good morning sweet heart. You ready for your big day? Is there going to be a big day? Taylor did make it home last night I presume?" Listening to her mother's barrage of questions Cam knew exactly where she inherited that trait.

"Yeah Ma, Taylor made it back last night. Everything is still on for today." Cam chuckled at her mother.

"That's wonderful. Listen sweetheart, I'm actually calling from the lobby. I thought I could just come over and surprise you two with some breakfast but apparently you can't just walk in off the street."

"Oh Momma, you are the best! I love you! I'll be right down." Cam was giddy, she was a bit spoiled by her parents, she loved it and missed it.

Cam threw on some yoga pants and a hoodie and rushed down to the lobby.

As she stepped out of the elevator she saw her mother, with bags galore, talking with the security guard.

"There she is!" Her mother ran over and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"Hi Ma! What did you buy out the pastry shop down the road?" Cam asked looking at the bags full of food. "Brent, would you like some food?" Cam offered.

"Oh, thanks Cam but you're mom's already hooked me up." He smiled "Sorry I didn't let her up… you know how Taylor is." He added as he leaned into Cam.

"No worries, we'll see ya at the restaurant later?" Cam waived as she helped her mother into the elevator.

"Wouldn't miss it."

"Cameron? What did he mean before? Talking about Taylor? Are you in danger?" Her mother was doing her best to sound nonchalant but Cam knew her far too well to buy it.

"Ma, there are some inherent risks that go along with Taylor's job. He just likes to be as safe as possible." Cam did her best to reassure her, she knew it didn't work but her mother didn't press the issue.

They opened the door to their apartment and brought the bags into the kitchen. This was the first time that her mother had been to her apartment with Taylor, she watched as her mom took in how big it was.

"Cameron this place is beautiful, I can see you've been doing some decorating." Her mother commented pointing towards a collage of black and white photographs on the wall in the living room.

"I had to add my touch to the place, what can I say, before it was a bit… bachelor pad-ish. Taylor isn't much for decorating." Cam punctuated her sentence by pointing towards his collection of empty beer bottles and cans he had displayed on a shelf in the kitchen.

"Speaking of Taylor… where is my future son-in-law?"

"Yeah Ma, it's barely 7:00, the only time he is up this time of day is if he hasn't gone to bed yet." Cam couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even think of that? I just assumed everyone would be up… I should have called huh?" Her mom asked as she started unpacking the bags.

"Its fine, why don't I go get him up. He would think he was being rude, sleeping while you were out here waiting to meet him."

"Don't do that sweetheart, let him sleep. We've got to get you ready! We've got to leave here in a few short hours. How are you getting to the courthouse? You father and I were hoping that you might let us take you? You know him… he wants to walk you down the aisle and give you away; you're his baby. He can be so emotional sometimes." Cam saw tears in her mother's eyes.

"Oh Momma, I love you. I hope those are tears of joy." Cam teased.

"You'll understand someday, when you are standing where I am today and realize that your baby is all grown up with a life of her own…. Enough with the mushy stuff, go get in the shower, we have a wedding to get ready for!"

After Cam finished with her shower she let her mother do her hair. Truth is she really hadn't put any thought in to a dress or hair or any of that sort of thing until her mother brought it up when she told her she was engaged. Cam wasn't exactly what one might call a girly girl. The last of the ringed curls were pinned up into her up do when there was a banging on the door.

"Dear God, what was that?" Cam's mother asked, no doubt afraid it was one of Taylor's 'risks'.

"No worries Ma, I know that crash. Those would be Taylor's friends, they always find a way to make an entrance."

Cam made her way from her seat in the living room over to the door and pulled it open to reveal Matty and Chris.

"Could you be a little louder next time? I'm not sure the _entire _building heard you."

"Sorry, we were afraid you two love birds had started the honeymoon early and wouldn't hear us." Chris grinned as he walked past her.

"Ok, hold on a sec. First off, my mom is in there so be nice! Second: what the hell are you two doing here?" Cam questioned the two men pushing past her.

"We're here for Taylor. Why else?" Matty replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world that they would be at her doorstep at 7:30 on a Monday morning.

"Well, he's not up yet."

"What! He's getting married in like 3 hours and he's not up yet? Jesus Cam what did you do to him last night? Don't you know you're supposed to save that shit for the honeymoon? What have you done to him? Since you two got together he has become on lazy son of a bitc…" Matty stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Cam's mother standing in the kitchen.

"You just couldn't do it could you? I asked you just this once to be nice." Cam scolded.

Matty and Chris stood there in the middle of the kitchen looking like two puppies that had just been scolded.

"Oh Cameron, I'm old but I'm not dead you know." She turned to face the two men. "Hello, I'm Cameron's mother, Patricia. But please call me Patti."

"Mom these are two of Taylor's closest friends, this is Matty Demaret and Chris Scarpa."

"Nice to meet you ma'am, sorry about before, I wasn't thinking…" Matty tried to apologize.

"Matty, please it's fine, really. Come boys have some food, I brought plenty." Patti handed them each a plate.

"Cam you want me to go get Taylor's aa… butt out of bed for you?" Chris offered.

"Thanks Chris but I think I'll pass. I'd like to start my wedding day off on a good note, I don't think having the groom in a bad mood is a good way to start a marriage." Cam teased as she headed back towards their bedroom.

Cam eased her way slowly into the room. Taylor was laying face down on the bed, dead to the world. He was naked and the sheets and blankets were all in a pile on the floor next to the bed. She thought to herself for second that she should have let Chris come in here to get Taylor.

She made her way around to the side of the bed and knelt down next to him. She slid her fingers down his temple to his cheek then chin. He stirred slightly but didn't wake up.

"Taaaylooor…" She cooed. "Taylor it's time to wake up baby."

He mumbled something and stretched before barely opening his eyes. "Mmmm… good morning Mrs. Reese." He leaned in to kiss her.

"Not quite yet there babe. You've gotta get out of bed and marry me first."

Suddenly more aware Taylor caught glimpse of her hair all done and panicked that he had overslept.

"Shit what time is it?"

"Taylor, do you honestly think I would let you oversleep on our wedding day?" Cam got up and sat next to him on the bed. He got up and headed to the door.

"STOP!" Cam jumped up and threw herself between him and the door.

"Woman have you lost your mind? Do you want to get married or don't you? I don't think they'll let me in the courthouse like this." Taylor gestured to his current state of undress.

"Babe, my mom, Matty and Chris are out there right now. As much as I love watching you naked I don't really feel as though that would be a great first impression on my mom. Whatcha say we put some pants on? Perhaps a shirt?" Cam reached for his lounge pants and handed them to him.

"You're _mom _is out there? How long has she been here? Why didn't you come get me?" Taylor seemed nervous which made Cam laugh.

"Babe, would you calm down. It's fine. She's gonna love you. Know why?" Cam handed him a shirt and watched as he put it on then smoothed it out. "Because I love you and she knows that and wants me to be happy. So just go out there and be yourself, everything will be fine."

Cam led him out towards the kitchen, she knew now wasn't the time but it was cute how nervous he was and she couldn't wait to tease him about it later.

"Momma, there's someone I'd like you to meet. This is Taylor."

Patti wasted no time. She walked up to Taylor by passed his outstretched hand and hugged him. "Taylor it is so nice to finally meet you. Cam has told me so much about you I feel as though I've known you for years."

"Its nice to meet you too. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to dinner last night, I really wanted to meet you and your husband…"

"Don't worry about it dear, things happen. All that matters now is that you're here now and we have a wedding to get to. Why don't you come right over here and have some breakfast, you must be starving, Cameron and I have a few more things to do before we head out to meet her father and go to the courthouse." Patti handed Taylor a plate, as she had Chris and Matty, then ushered Cam towards the bathroom to do her makeup.

"You look like hell." Matty informed Taylor as he sat down at the table with a plate full of food.

"That wasn't exactly how I had planned to meet her mom."

"Well damn Taylor maybe if you hadn't let her wear your ass out last night you coulda been all bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning." Chris didn't even try to hide the laughter in his voice.

The three men sat in silence as they ate their food. Some time later the bathroom door opened and Patti came out into the kitchen.

"Now Taylor I know that you and Cameron are not big on tradition but I'm asking that you both humor me for one small favor. Would you please step into your bedroom and shut the door? It's tradition that the groom not see the bride until she walks down the aisle with her father and that is one tradition that we would like to keep."

"Sure, I can do that. Matty, Scarpa, you're with me. You two don't get to see her before I do," Taylor insisted pointing towards the bedroom, "IN."

"Thank you Taylor. Now you boys get ready, it would be terribly rude to keep a bride waiting on her wedding day. We'll see you at the courthouse."

The three men shut the bedroom door just in time to hear the bathroom door open. The click of heals could be heard on the wood floors walking towards the door, it creaked open then fell shut.

"Alright Taylor you ready?" Matty asked.

"I've never been more ready for anything in my life." With that Taylor headed off to get ready.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Cam and her parents arrived at the courthouse in a car that her father had hired. Cam appreciated how sweet her father was, he knew she didn't want anything over the top but he wasn't about to have his little girl arrive at her wedding via taxi.

She and her mother had searched everywhere for the perfect dress. They had finally found an elegant floor length satin dress with an over lay of eggshell colored lace. It reflected her perfectly. At first glance the dress was simple, even conservative, but the deep v cutting down the back, revealing the Celtic artwork on her lower back, told a different story completely.

Cam and her parents ascended the steps to the courthouse and made their way to the room where the ceremony was to be held. Standing in the room where the ceremony was to be held she was struck by the irony of where they were getting married. Not twenty-four hours earlier had her soon to be husband stood in a room not unlike this waiting to be arraigned. As if her new life was suddenly brought into focus for her she had to laugh when she thought about how it might look to John Q Public for Taylor, Matty, Chris, and Marbles to be walking into the courthouse dressed in suits. She chuckled as she wondered if one of the beat reporters might think a major trial was underway.

"Are you nervous sweetheart?" Her father asked as he paced the room for the hundredth time.

"No Daddy. Are you?" She smiled back at him.

"Don't you laugh at me young lady… it's a father's job to be nervous on his daughter's wedding day." He joked with her as he crossed the room and kissed her on the cheek. "When are they supposed to get here? He's not going to be late to your wedding is he?"

"Mom told him that he wasn't supposed to see me before the wedding, he's probably just trying to time it so that he can do as she asked. Its gonna be fine, I promise."

The thick, heavy, solid wood door creaked as it was carefully pushed open. Cam's heart skipped a beat in anticipation.

"Oh, sorry sweetie, it's just me." Her mother apologized entering the room. "I just ran into a very dapper looking group of young men out in the hall, one in particular is very anxious to get in here."

"What's he waiting for? Is he on his way in Ma?" Cam felt butterflies in her stomach and wondered why she was suddenly nervous.

"Apparently Chris spoke with the judge's clerk and she is going to come let them know when the judge gets here so that they can come in then." Cam had to laugh at the magic Scarpa charm at work again.

Cam and her parents sat in a nervous silence for about 5 minutes before the judge's door in the back of the room opened and she stepped in.

"Good morning, you must be Cameron?" She walked towards Cam and extended her hand. "I'm Judge Wagner, nice to meet you. Are we still waiting on the groom?"

Just then the large wooden door that led to the hallway creaked open and Chris stuck his head in. "We ready?"

Cam was so excited all she could do was shake her head yes. The door swung open fully and in stepped Chris followed by Marbles, Matty, and finally Taylor.

Cam met Taylor's eyes and was surprised to see that the tears she felt building in her eyes were matched by the tears she saw welling in Taylor's eyes.

"And this must be the groom?" Judge Wagner broke the silence. "Are we ready to get started?"

"Yes, your honor, I think we are." Matty spoke up slapping Taylor on the back.

Snapping out of his trance Taylor broke his gaze from Cam and turned to the judge. "Yes ma'am, we are ready."

"Cameron and Taylor come on up here," she led them to the front of the little room, "Please turn to each other and join hands."

Patti quickly handed her daughter an antique handkerchief to wipe the tears before they could fall and smudge her makeup. Cam dotted her eyes and smiled at her parents as she took Taylor's hands.

"I understand you have written your own vows?" The couple nodded in unison. "Alright then, Cameron please go ahead."

"Taylor, I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.  
>I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard,<br>when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life." Cam recited the words they had written together.

"Taylor, I believe it's your turn." The judge said turning towards him.

"Cameron, I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.  
>I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard,<br>when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life." Taylor fought to get the words out through the lump that had formed in his throat.

"Do we have rings?" Judge asked Taylor. Matty quickly stepped forward, untied the small velvet bag and placed the two bands in the judge's outstretched hand.

"Cameron, do you pledge to love Taylor and throughout your years together to be honest, faithful, and kind to him? Do you pledge to give to him the same happiness he gives to you, and to respect him for who he is, not who you want him to be?"

"I do." Cam replied as she slide Taylor's band on to his left hand.

"Taylor, do you pledge to love Cameron and throughout your years together to be honest, faithful, and kind to her? Do you pledge to give to her the same happiness she gives to you, and to respect her for who she is, not who you want her to be?"

"I do." Taylor answered as he placed Cam's ring on her finger.

"By the power vested in me by the state of New York I now pronounce you husband and wife! I think you know what comes next." Judge Wagner smiled at the couple.

Taylor slowly leaned forward, placed his right hand behind Cam's head and pulled her towards him. Cam, normally self conscious about public displays of affection in front of her parents, met Taylor's kiss with all the passion of their first kiss.

"I love you," Taylor whispered as he pulled away from her embrace.

"I love you too." Cam smiled back at him. The two turned to meet the applause of their now joined families.

_Present Day_

Cam watched as Lucy, the overly chipper nurse, and an orderly worked on getting Taylor set up in his new room. The room was much larger than the ICU room had been. This was regular room that was set up to hold two patients. Matty had convinced the hospital administration that for Taylor's safety he needed to be the only patient in the room. There had been guards on the entrance to the ICU while Taylor was up there but now that he was in a regular room where the general public could come and go as they pleased Matty had plans on round the clock guards on Taylor's room.

"Alright then Mr. Reese you are all set. I've written my name along with the names of your doctor, and the medical assistant assigned to you on the board at on the wall over here. Your call button is the red one here on the side rail; please don't hesitate to call us if you need anything." Lucy smiled at him as she re-tucked the end of his bed and headed for the door.

"Whoa, hang on." Taylor caught her as she tried to make her escape. "You gonna take this thing out or am I?" He asked pointing to his IV.

Lucy looked to Cam, pleading, then back to Taylor. "Mr. Reese, as I've explained to you, I do not have the authority to decide if and when the IV can come out. You're doctor should be along shortly, you can discuss it with him then."

"You let him know that he had exactly 15 minutes to get in here or I'm ripping the thing out!" Taylor let all his annoyance with the situation bubble to the point where he could summon all his strength to put some gravitas into his declaration.

"I will do my best to convey your… insistence to Dr. Grant." Lucy lost her smile and backed out the door.

"Taylor, it's not her fault you know?" Cam eased her way to the head of his bed. "She's just doing her job."

He let out a low growl followed by a loud sigh. "I know, I'm just so fucking sick of this shit… I'm sick of lying in the bed, sick of sleeping all the time, and sick of not knowing what the fuck is going on half the time." He put his head back on the bed, closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing instead of the IV he wanted to rip out of his arm.

"I know baby, we'll be going home soon enough. Right now you just need to…"

"Cam, I love you, but I swear to Christ if you are about to tell me be patient and rest I will rip this fucking thing out and walk the fuck out of this room."

Cam had to fight the tears she felt instantly forming. She actually bit her tongue to try to stop from crying. She knew that laying in that bed went against every fiber of Taylor's being and she couldn't imagine how frustrating it must be for him to have to lay there and depend on other people to take care of him.

"Don't think that just because you just got out of ICU I won't put your ass into that wall if I hear you talk to her like that again!" Matty had slipped in the room when he saw the nurse and orderly leave. "She has been sitting here for DAYS worried about your ass; she watched your fucking heart stop TWICE and had to decide if you were going to stay on a FUCKING VENTILATOR! You don't get to snap at her and you don't get to take shit out on her! You get to lay your ass in that bed and do what the doctors tell you to do! Understood?"

Taylor lifted his head and opened his eyes and looked from Matty to Cam. He opened his mouth to take Matty's head off when he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Oh… shit… babe, I'm sorry… I didn't mean… fuck… come here. Please don't cry." Taylor reached for her with his good arm.

Cam made her way to his side and slowly placed her head on his shoulder.

"I'm an ass, I told you this shit is messing with my head. I'm sorry you had to go through this, I'm sorry that you were scared. I will do what the doc tells me okay? Look at me."

Cam lifted her head and wiped her eyes. "I know you're frustrated Taylor, I just don't want you to push yourself too hard. I love you."

"I love you too." Taylor pulled her into a kiss then quickly pulled back when he felt a tear in his chest causing him to gasp.

"Oh my god! Taylor are you okay? Matty get a nurse!" Cam panicked.

"I'm fine… I'm fine, I just moved wrong… Matty I'm good really." He looked from his wife to his friend doing his best to be convincing.

As Taylor began to reach once again for Cam the door to his room creaked open and in came Lucy. She had a nervous smile on her face as she pushed a cart towards Taylor's bed.

"I spoke with Dr. Grant, he wanted me to let you know that he would be by later tonight to see you. In the mean time he wants you to have another dose of the pain medication along with your antibiotic. He is hoping that he will be able to cut the dose on the pain meds tomorrow but he wants you to get a good night's sleep tonight and tomorrow he wants to try some food and maybe even some walking." The poor girl looked like she was bracing for a fight as she finished delivering the doctor's wishes.

Taylor looked from Matty to Cam then closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

"Thank you Lucy that will be just fine." Cam smiled as she tried to put the girl at ease.

Lucy injected both of the medications into Taylor's IV then quickly checked his vitals and left the room.

Although not by much Taylor was stronger than the last time he had received the pain meds. He was determined that he was going to get some answers from Matty before he slipped back into the drug induced sleep he fought so hard against the last couple of days.

"Cam, I know that I can't have any food yet but would you mind getting me something to drink and maybe something to read? I'm gonna lose my mind before too long."

"Taylor, you can't have anything other than ice chips right now, you know that. If you want to be alone with Matty just say so. I'll head down to the cafeteria for a little bit."

"I love you, you know that right?" Taylor smiled weakly, starting to feel the effects of the meds.

"I love you too. Matty, don't let him push himself. I expect him to be asleep when I get back." Cam instructed as she leaned over and kissed Taylor's forehead.

As soon as the door clicked shut Taylor turned his gaze to Matty.

"What the fuck happened Matty? I can't remember shit… last I remember I got a call from Scarpa about a break in at the Church street warehouse." Everything after that was a flurry of pieces of sounds, thoughts, dreams and feelings.

"I wasn't there Taylor. Chris called me right after he called you. He had been down near the warehouse looking at some real estate with Sammy when they saw some activity. Sammy knew the warehouse was supposed to be clean and closed, they got closer to the back entrance and saw Pete going in with two guys they didn't recognize." Matty waited for Taylor's reaction.

"Fuck… I told you… I knew I should have taken care of that little fuck…" Taylor felt himself losing his battle against the pain killers. He pushed himself up as close to sitting as he could manage in hopes that the adjustment would make it easier to stay awake.

"You gonna pass out on me Reese?" Matty asked his friend.

"Tryin not to…" Taylor drawled. "Did I go down to the warehouse? I must've… was that little prick waiting for me? Fuck Matty… why can't I remember a damn thing?"

"I think you were heading there but you never made it. I got to the warehouse and met up with Sammy and Scarpa. I asked if you had already come and gone. They thought you had come with me… I knew at that point something had happened. I tried your phone and it went right to voicemail. I sent Chris to your building to see what he could find and before he could pull out of the parking lot a van pulled up, opened the door and threw you out. They must've thought you were dead. They were trying to send us a message. While we were with you Sammy saw Pete and company leaving the warehouse."

"They were… connected… that fuck… he set me… up… I know it Mat…" Taylor trailed off as his head fell back to the mattress only to pop back up. He readjusted his position and took a deep breath. "Matty, you need to call… Tommy… Pete knows… about… he's gonna try to… fuck, I can't think right now… let me just close my eyes for a minute…"

"I'll be here when you're ready Taylor." His response was met by a loud snore.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Cam came around the corner to Taylor's room to see Sammy standing guard.

"Hey Sammy. I didn't miss the doctor did I?"

"No, nobody's gone in there since you left." Sammy reported.

"Would you mind sticking your head in there to see if they're done talking yet? I told Taylor I'd give them some time."

"Of course, hang on." Sammy eased the door open saw Taylor asleep and Matty watching TV with the sound barely audible. "Looks like he's asleep, I'd say they're done."

"Thanks Sammy." Cam slipped into the room and walked towards Matty who looked away from the rerun he was watching when he heard her come in.

"Did he get the answers he needed?" Cam asked.

"Not really, but I'm not going anywhere." Matty smiled.

"I know that he needs to know what happened to him but Matty I am so afraid that he is going to do something stupid…"

"You try not to worry about that Cam. I've got a guard on this door 24/7 for more than one reason if you ya know what I mean. I'm not going to let him do anything stupid, at least not till he's healed any way." The thought had crossed Matty's mind more than once that Taylor would not wait until he was healed to take action against the people that put him in here so he had carefully picked who would be guarding him and when in an attempt to head off any issues before they arose.

"You get anything to eat?"

"Yes mother, I had a salad and some delicious hospital goulash." Cam responded with a smile. "You can be such a mother hen sometimes you know that?"

"Hey someone's gotta look out for you… he can't do it so I guess that leaves me." Matty smiled and squeezed Cam's knee. "I don't suppose there is any way that I can talk you in to going home to sleep tonight?"

"I'll go home when he does. Besides look at the deluxe accommodations that I have in our new suite; I get my very own bed! What more could a girl ask for? It's getting kinda late; I thought the doctor was going to come see us?" Cam was anxious to hear what plans the doctor had for Taylor.

"I'm sure he'll be by soon. Maybe he talked to Taylor's nurse and he's keeping his distance for fear of his safety." They both chuckled thinking back to the poor girl's face after Taylor threatened to rip his IV out.

"If you don't wanna stick around Matty it's fine. I'll call you and let you know what the doctor says."

"I told Taylor that I'd be here when he was ready and god help me if that's in a few hours and I'm not here when that time comes… I will never hear the end of it and you're night will be hell."

"You make a very valid point. Say, how about we find something a little less dumb to watch then whatever this is… perhaps there is a paint drying channel or something?" Cam asked as she swiped the remote.

Several hours and far too many episodes of Seinfeld later Sammy opened the door to let the doctor in.

"Good evening. Sorry that I couldn't get in here before now, there was an urgent matter that required my attention in the ER."

Cam moved to the head of Taylor's bed. "Baby… Taylor wake up sweetheart. The doctor's here." She whispered quietly as she kissed his forehead.

"Hmmm…" Was the only response she got.

"Taylor, open your eyes… come on…" Cam tried again, a little louder.

"Cam?" Taylor managed while trying to pry his eyes open.

"The doctor's here to see you. I know you have a lot of questions for him. You can go back to sleep after he leaves, I promise." Cam knew that he needed to hear what the doctor had to say for himself; somehow she hoped that the doctor would be able to convince Taylor of how serious his condition really was.

Taylor cleared his throat and pushed himself up to as close to sitting has he could manage before finally prying his eyes open. "Hey doc."

"How are you feeling Mr. Reese?" Dr. Grant asked as he made his way to the opposite side of the bed from Cam.

"I've been better. When do I get to get out of this place?"

"Mr. Reese, the injuries you sustained are very serious. You have made enough progress for me to feel comfortable moving you out of the ICU but I'm afraid you are nowhere near ready to go home."

Cam could see that Taylor was clenching his jaw as he squeezed his temples and scrubbed at his eyes. She let out a small sigh, bracing for Taylor to put up a fight. To her surprise Taylor gently laid his arm down exhaled, opened his eyes, and remained calm.

"So If I can't leave can you at least take this god damn thing out my arm?" Taylor requested through his clenched teeth.

"Your nurse did relay to me your eagerness to stop the pain medication. Tomorrow morning I will start you on a smaller dose of a new medicine that isn't as strong but I'm afraid that the IV will stay in for a while longer. What you need to understand Mr. Reese is that you are not going to wake up one day and just miraculously be healed. Healing is a process and proper pain management is an important part of that process."

"Dr. Grant, Taylor's nurse mentioned something about getting him up and walking tomorrow… isn't it too soon for that?" Cam spoke before Taylor could put up a fight about the IV.

"Yes, that is the plan. We are going to start him on some liquids and assuming he tolerates them well we hope to have him up and walking by the afternoon. It is important that we start rehabilitation as soon as possible."

"Can you ballpark it for me doc? Are we talkin a couple days or weeks that I'm stuck here?"

"Well, everything depends on how well you do. How fast you recover. If you take it easy, don't push yourself and let us help you I wouldn't be surprised if we were sending you home in a week."

Taylor clamped his eyes shut put his head back on his pillow, slid back down, and rolled away from the doctor signifying that he was done with the conversation. Cam and Matty exchanged a quick look; this was not a typical Taylor reaction. Cam wrote it off as a side effect of the pain meds.

"Well if you don't have any other questions, I'll leave you to get some rest." Taking his cue from Taylor the doctor looked to Cam and Matty. "I'll be by after rounds tomorrow, have a good night."

"Taylor, try to think of this as a good thing, a step in the right direction. You'll be up and walking around tomorrow. This week will be over before you know it and you'll be home." Cam said as she ran her hand over his scalp.

"I'm gonna crash… I'm fine, really. Matty, would you take her home?"

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay right here with you." Cam insisted.

"Why? So you can sit here and listen to me snore all night? Go home… I bet you haven't had a full night's sleep since this thing started."

"Tay…"

"Cam come on, he's right. Let's go." Matty cut her off before she could argue.

"Fine! I'll go, but I'll be back first thing tomorrow morning." Cam leaned down to kiss Taylor. "I love you. You're going to get through this."

"Love you too."

_6 months ago_

Cam was sitting in the office at the restaurant finishing up the payroll for the week when the intercom buzzed.

"Hey Cam, there's someone out here to see you." Topher, the bartender called over the intercom.

"Who is it Topher?" Cam questioned. The only person she was expecting that day was the lighting contractor and he had already come and gone.

"Name's Maggie, says she's your sister."

"What? Oh my god! I'll be right there!" Cam shot up from the desk and ran towards the bar.

She reached the bar and instantly engulfed her sister in a hug. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"I wanted to surprise you, I guess it worked huh?" Maggie said returning the hug. "I haven't seen you in forever! I mean you didn't invite me to your wedding… but I decided to love you any way."

"Mags… you know why I did that. We wanted to keep it small and simple, even if I had only invited our branch of the McNeil clan we wouldn't have fit in the court room."

"I know… I'm just giving you shit. That's what sister's are for!"

Cam smacked her sister in the arm and led her towards the office.

"How long are you here for? You didn't get a hotel did you?" Cam started packing her things.

"Hells no… I'm here to mooch off you for at least a week!" She gave Cam a quick smile.

"Let me just make some calls and then we can spend the whole day together!" Cam was practically bursting with excitement. She made some calls and decided to take the rest of the day off.

Cam was number 7 out of 8 kids in her family. Maggie was the baby. The two were only 13 months apart and had been extremely close growing up. The two of them bore the brunt of a lot of teasing from their older siblings, since they were the two youngest they were also the most spoiled. They both had a way of getting whatever they wanted from both of their parents.

In the car on the way home Cam decided that she should give Taylor a heads up.

"Hey babe, whatcha doin?" Cam asked when Taylor answered his phone.

"Nothin, just watchin the game. Why what's up?"

"You are never going to believe who showed up at the restaurant to surprise me," she didn't even wait for him to answer, "my sister Maggie! Can you believe it? She's gonna come stay with us for a week!"

"No shit? That's cool. Where you guys at? You on your way here?"

"Yeah we should be there in a few minutes; I just wanted to make sure that you were decent." She giggled as her sister blushed slightly.

"No worries, I'm good. I don't think Scarpa and Matty would be down with watching the game with me free ballin it on the couch." One of the things that Cam loved most about Taylor was his sarcastic, dry wit.

Cam could hear Chris in the background asking the obvious follow up question about how often Taylor did that… should he really be sitting on this couch. Taylor ignored him and continued his conversation.

"See ya when ya get here."

Ten minutes later Cam slid her key into the door to their apartment and helped her sister in with her bags. Taylor and company were sprawled out over the two couches completely fixated on the television. There were empty beer bottles and a couple pizza boxes, the only sign that the boys had at one point moved from their current locations.

"Hello? Anyone alive in here?" Cam called as she headed towards the TV.

Snapping out of his trance, Taylor got to his feet and headed to introduce himself to his sister-in-law. Cam noticed that his walk was a bit staggered and figured that they had started 'watching the game' pretty early in the day.

"Hey babe." Taylor gave Cam a quick kiss before slipping his arm around her shoulder and turning to face Maggie.

"Taylor, this is my sister Maggie. Maggie this is my husband Taylor." Cam couldn't help but grin ear to ear at the word husband, she couldn't quite get used to the sound of it yet.

"It's great to finally meet you Taylor, I don't know if Cam told you but there was some speculation as to whether or not you really existed there for awhile." Maggie shook his hand with a chuckle.

"That's what I heard." Maggie was taken aback by the deepness of his voice. She had heard countless stories from Cam, of course, and her mother was quite smitten upon her return from the wedding but nothing really did him justice. She couldn't help but marvel at the stark contrast between Taylor and her sister's past loves, to say they were day and night would be the understatement of the decade.

Once she was able to tear her eyes from Taylor, Maggie turned to look at the place Cam now called home and noticed for the first time the two other men in the room. "Who are you friends? They alive?"

"Matty! Scarpa! Why don't you two get the fuck up and come over here?" Taylor bellowed.

The two men sauntered over to the group and introduced themselves. Chris' hand shake lasted a bit too long for Taylor's taste, he could see the intentions in Chris' eyes at the sight of Maggie.

"What are you two lovely ladies up to for the rest of the day?" Chris was pouring it on thick.

"I thought we would head out and have some sister time and then maybe head out to some clubs tonight." Cam began and then as obviously as she could, looked the three of them up and down. "I was hoping that you guys might join us but from the looks of you… I doubt any of you will make it that long. Oh well, girls' night on the town!"

"Hang on," Chris got up from the seat he had taken at the kitchen table. "It's only one o'clock in the afternoon… not only will we be up at the club by the time you get there but we will close that son of a bitch down!"

"Well, good luck with that. We're gonna go get Maggie settled and then head out. I'll text you when we get to the club."

As Cam lifted Maggie's bag to put it on the bed she was instantly nauseous. She abandoned the bag in favor of heading to the bathroom. Once she had emptied the contents of her stomach and rinsed her mouth out she re-emerged into her bedroom only to be met by laughter from her sister.

"I'm so glad my puking amused you."

"You're pregnant aren't you?" Maggie practically sing songed?

"What? No, I most certainly am not." Cam insisted as she sat down on the bed. "Before he left for work last night Taylor tried his hand at cooking, unsuccessfully I might add. Not until last night did I know that it was possible for chicken to be both burned as well as raw…" Even the mere thought of last night's dinner turned her stomach. "He tried so hard, but apparently if it doesn't involve boiling water and adding noodles, it's just not his thing. I've felt like shit all day."

"Food poisoning sure…likely story."

"Maggie, they call it morning sickness for a reason… check the clock. But for the record I may never eat chicken again.


End file.
